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Royal Challengers Bengaluru 152 for 6 (Du Plessis 64, Kohli 42, Little 4-45) beat Gujarat Titans 147 (Shahrukh 37, Tewatia 35, Dayal 2-21, Vyshak 2-23) by four wickets
Four overs of craziness aside, Royal Challengers Bengaluru played the near-perfect game at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to roll Gujarat Titans over for the second time in a week.
Riding on the back of their seam-bowling success and a blistering opening stand between Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli, RCB dominated for the first 26 overs of the game. But a middle-order collapse – where GT picked up six wickets for only 25 runs – briefly put them on the back foot. However, Dinesh Karthik (21*) and Swapnil Singh (15*) counterpunched to complete a four-wicket win.
RCB’s victory by 38 balls also takes them from tenth to seventh on the points table. They are on eighth points, as are ninth-placed GT, with both sides holding slim chances to make the playoffs.
RCB make use of conditions
Pitch number eight was the same surface on which Sunrisers Hyderabad pumped 287. But Saturday’s version of the pitch was different, courtesy the few hours of rain on Friday that made the pitch sweat overnight.
Mohammed Siraj (2 for 29) and Yash Dayal (2 for 21) utilised that little assistance to move the ball in both directions in the powerplay, and found success with balls from behind a good length. Siraj dismissed Wriddhiman Saha for the fourth time in seven innings and then had Shubman Gill playing away from his body for a catch at deep point. Sai Sudharsan also failed to get going, and GT could post only 23 for 3 in the powerplay, their lowest score of all time in that phase.
M Shahrukh Khan, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia then hit scores of thirties to keep the GT innings moving. Despite the occasional boundaries, the RCB seamers did not let them get away.
Vijaykumar Vyshak pushed them back with short balls, as did Cameron Green, and helped by an electrifying fielding effort, the bowlers’ combined pressure soon brought about a lower-order collapse. GT slid from 131 for 5 to 147 all out, and their innings had two run-outs including a Kohli direct-hit dismissal of Shahrukh.
Du Plessis, Kohli dazzle
After surviving a close run-out chance in the first ball of the chase, Kohli brushed off all jitters aside by hitting Mohit Sharma for six over cover and midwicket in the opening over. Du Plessis then took Josh Little for 20 runs in the next over.
Du Plessis took control then on, taking on debutant Manav Suthar and Mohit, and the team fifty was brought up in 3.1 overs. Kohli then pounced on Suthar to hit him for consecutive sixes over long-on. The onslaught continued as du Plessis then reached his fifty off 18 balls as RCB went past their previous-best powerplay score of 88. By the time he was dismissed in the sixth over by Little, RCB had already razed 92 off the target.
Full report to follow
