Royal Challengers Bengaluru pulled the self-destruction button halfway through the game, but captain Faf du Plessis’ scorching fifty provided enough thrust to propel them to a four-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans.
In their IPL match in Bengaluru on Saturday, Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans by four wickets despite having partially pulled the self-destruction button with captain Faf du Plessis’s blistering fifty. The Royal Challengers overcame a precarious target of 148, thanks in large part to the scintillating performances of Du Plesiss (64, 23b, 10×4, 3×6) and Kohli (42, 27b, 2×4, 4×6), who put on 92 runs in just 35 balls for the opening wicket. Along with moving RCB up to seventh place in the standings with eight points from 11 games, the victory maintained their mathematical hopes of qualifying for the play-offs.
In Power Play, the home team amassed 92 runs, including 10 fours and seven maximums, thanks to the boundary-trading of Du Plessis and Kohli.
Du Plessis and Kohli both took full advantage of the GT bowlers, with the latter starting the slaughter with two sixes off pacer Mohit Sharma in the opening over.
With a run-scoring sequence of 4, 6, 4, 4 in the second over that yielded 20 runs, Du Plessis showed he was not in the mood to be a sidekick by wading into left-arm pacer Josh Little.
The Titans brought in left-arm spinner Manav Suthar for his IPL debut, hoping to at least limit Kohli, but the plan backfired miserably.
With two consecutive sixes, the RCB talisman demonstrated his growing comfort level against spin.
Mohit was the target of Du Plessis’s punishing blow, which he saved for the South African, who reached fifty in just eighteen balls before falling to Little. Mohit was hammered for four fours in the fifth over.
After that, RCB went through a difficult period as they lost Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, and Cameron Green for just 20 runs in the sixth and tenth overs in the previous match.
RCB went from being 92 for 1 to 112 for 5, with Little (4/45) and spinner Noor Ahmad (2/23) being the main culprits.
As soon as RCB reached 117 for six, Ahmad removed Kohli, but Dinesh Karthik (21 not out, 12b) remained composed under duress as RCB recorded their third consecutive victory overall this season.
Their bowlers produced an impeccable job on a helpful pitch to bowl GT to a modest 147 before the RCB batsmen joined the celebration.
The Titans lacked that one big innings or a stand that could have given them a stronger hold on the game, but there were a few strong partnerships: 61 between David Miller and Shahrukh Khan, and 44 between Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan.
In fact, even in the Power Play, they failed to pick up much pace as their top-order batsmen faltered against RCB pacers Mohammed Siraj (2/29) and Yash Dayal (2/21) who stuck to an amazing length.
The fact that GT only hit two fours during Power Play provided sufficient proof of their difficulties and the accuracy of the RCB bowlers.
Because of Siraj’s dominance up front, Gujarat’s Power Play score of 23 for three was the lowest in the category this season.
With a beautiful outswinger that the GT opener floated to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps, he destroyed an out-of-form Wriddhiman Saha.
Shubman Gill was next, as his attempted swat to the on-side off Siraj was caught by Vysakh Vijayakumar at deep point after taking a leading edge.
In the Power Play, Green got the third wicket for RCB when he removed the in-form B Sai Sudharsan, whose weak pull close to the body was caught by Kohli at mid-off.
With a steady 61-run partnership off 37 balls for the fourth wicket, Miller (30, 20b) and Shahrukh (37, 24b) did their best to get GT out of the woods.
Miller, who was lucky enough to be dropped by Karn Sharma on 23 off Green, produced classic power shots.
He got away with a pair of sixes off leg-spinner Karn (a pull and a loft over extra cover), but was caught by the same bowler when he miscuted a heave that Maxwell caught at deep.
Unfortunately for the visitors, though, Shahrukh backed up a bit too far to Rahul Tewatia’s soft drop, and he was unable to beat a throw from Kohli to the non-striker’s end.
Tewatia (35, 21b) and Rashid (18, 14b) put up 44 off 29 balls for the sixth wicket, however during Rashid’s attempt to be creative against Yash Dayal, the ball crashed against the stumps.
Tewatia left immediately after punishing Karn for eighteen runs (4, 6, 4, 4) in the sixteenth over.
