Royal Challengers Bengaluru registered their third consecutive win in this season of IPL as they defeated Gujarat Titans by 4 wickets at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. This victory means that RCB’s playoff dreams are very much alive. They have jumped to number 7 spot in the IPL Points Table. So math says it’s possible for them to qualify for the playoffs. 

Faf Du Plessis’ blazing knock of 64 runs off 23 balls gave a super start to the home team. His 1st wicket stand with Virat Kohli saw RCB smashing 92/0 in the powerplay. This was RCB’s  highest powerplay score in the history of IPL. However, the spectacular collapse after the powerplay brought RCB to their knees and it seemed that the skipper’s knock and Kohli’s aggressive blitz would go in vain.

Sample this – After Josh Little picked up the wicket of Du Plessis, except for Kohli (42 off 27 balls), almost the entire middle order of RCB was back in the dugout with a single-digit score. Will Jacks (1), Rajat Patidar (2), Glenn Maxwell (4) and Cameron Green (1) were the four wickets that RCB lost in quick succession in addition to Du Plessis and Kohli. RCB were stuttering with 117/6 on the board.  

It was vitage rescue act by Dinesh ‘Finisher’ Karthik and Swapnil Singh that helped RCB to overcome this middle order collapse and win the match with 38 balls to spare. 

Earlier in the evening, RCB bowlers did a superb job as they restricted GT for a sub-par total of 147 all out. GT posted their lowest powerplay score with 23 for three. This was also the lowest powerplay score by any team in this season of IPL. Except for Karn Sharma, no RCB bowler conceded many runs. Md Siraj demolished the GT batting within the first two overs. Yash Dayal, Vijaykumar Vyshak were also impressive.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans scorecard

Royal Challengers Bengaluru:

  • Virat Kohli c Saha b Noor Ahmad 42
  • Faf du Plessis c Shahrukh Khan b Little 64
  • Will Jacks c Shahrukh Khan b Noor Ahmad 1
  • Rajat Patidar c Miller b Little 2
  • Glenn Maxwell c Miller b Little 4
  • Cameron Green c Shahrukh Khan b Little 1
  • Dinesh Karthik not out 21
  • Swapnil Singh not out 15
  • Extras: (LB-1, W-1) 2
  • Total: (For 6 wickets in 13.4 overs) 152 Fall of wickets: 1-92, 2-99, 3-103, 4-107, 5-111, 6-117 Bowling: Mohit Sharma 2-0-32-0, Josh Little 4-0-45-4, Manav Suthar 2-0-26-0, Noor Ahmad 4 -0-23-2, Rashid Khan 1.4-0-25-0.

GT innings:

  • Wriddhiman Saha c Karthik b Siraj 1
  • Shubman Gill (c) c Vyshak b Siraj 2
  • Sai Sudharsan c Kohli b Green 6
  • M Shahrukh Khan run out 37
  • David Miller c Maxwell b Sharma 30
  • Rahul Tewatia c Vyshak b Dayal 35
  • Rashid Khan b Dayal 18
  • Vijay Shankar c Siraj b Vyshak 10
  • Manav Suthar c Swapnil b Vyshak 1
  • Mohit Sharma run out 0
  • Noor Ahmad not out 0
  • Extras: (B-2, LB-1, W-4) 7
  • Total: (All out in 19.3 overs) 147
  • Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-10, 3-19, 4-80, 5-87, 6-131, 7-136, 8-147, 9-147, 10-147.
  • Bowling: Swapnil Singh 1-0-1-0, Mohammed Siraj 4-0-29-2, Yash Dayal 4-0-21-2, Cameron Green 4-0-28-1, Vijaykumar Vyshak 3.3-0-23-2, Karn Sharma 3-0-42-1.

(With PTI inputs)