Finance
Royal Challengers Bengaluru kept their playoff chances alive with a four-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday, thanks to an outstanding performance from their fast bowlers and a scorching 64 from captain Faf du Plessis.
After Yash Dayal, Vyshak Vijaykumar, and Mohammed Siraj bowled brilliantly to dismiss GT for a disappointing 147, du Plessis and Virat Kohli got RCB off to a flying start with a 92-run opening stand in 35 balls.
Du Plessis was the more aggressive of the two, smashing ten fours and three sixes in his 23 balls at the crease. After he fell, GT sparked a remarkable RCB batting collapse by taking six wickets from overs 6–11.
It took Dinesh Karthik’s 21 not out and Swapnil Singh’s unbeaten 15 to get RCB over the line in 13.4 overs and help them jump to seventh place in the points table. RCB’s win also meant GT slid to ninth place, while Mumbai Indians became the new occupants of tenth position in the points table.
On a two-paced surface, Dayal, Vyshak and Siraj got their lengths and rhythm spot-on to bundle out GT for the lowest total at the venue in IPL 2024. They were also supported by Cameron Green and Karn Sharma taking a wicket apiece.
Shahrukh Khan, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia chipped in with sizeable 30s, but none of them converted it into a big knock to make it the third time GT have been bowled out this season.
Electing to bowl first, Siraj found late movement on a short and wide ball, which was good enough to find an outside edge of Wriddhiman Saha. It was also the fourth time Siraj took out Saha in the IPL.
Siraj found late movement again as he forced Shubman Gill to whip, resulting in a deep point with a catch off a leading edge. The dependable B. Sai Sudharsan was the next to fall, pulling without footwork and being caught at mid-off against Green, as GT finished their power-play at 23/3, the lowest total in this six-over period of the IPL 2024.
Following a terrible Powerplay, GT got some boundaries flowing, beginning with Shahrukh glancing and clipping out Vyshak in the seventh over. He and Miller, who were dropped on 23 by Karn off Green, used great timing on their smashes to keep GT’s innings moving, scoring 38 runs from overs 8 to 11.
Shahrukh brought up the 50-run stand for the fourth wicket in the 11th over by smashing Green high over long-on for a 94-metre six. But RCB launched a fight-back in successive overs – Miller holed out to long-on off Karn after hitting a six over extra cover, while Shahrukh was run out by a direct hit from Virat Kohli at non-striker’s end.
Tewatia took a liking to Karn by smashing three fours and a six to take 19 runs off the 16th over, followed by Rashid taking two boundaries off Siraj in the next over. But Dayal brought a halt to the 44-run stand by castling Rashid’s leg-stump with a yorker, before taking out Tewatia with a short ball, with the diving third man taking the catch off the top edge.
Vyshak came back to take out Manav Suthar and Vijay Shankar, while Mohit Sharma was run out in the final over as RCB got a team hat-trick to bowl out GT with three balls unused in their innings.
Kohli began RCB’s pursuit of 148 by lofting and whipping Mohit Sharma for two sixes in the first over. Du Plessis greeted Joshua Little with a drawn four, followed by two fours and a six in the second over for 20 runs.
He then attacked debutant spinner Manav Suthar, hitting a six and a four in the third over before heaving Mohit over midwicket to put RCB to 50 in just 19 balls. There was no stopping du Plessis, who hammered three more fours off Mohit in an 18-run fourth over.
After a brilliant Kohli despatched Suthar for two sixes, du Plessis hit his fifty in 18 balls and then slammed Little for two fours and a
six in the last over of Power-play. But Little had the last laugh by cramping du Plessis for room and a short fine leg took the catch on top-edge, as RCB ended Power-play at 92/1.
The fast and furious-styled scoring from RCB in Power-play was brought to a halt afterwards by GT as Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell and Green perished quickly. When Kohli nicked behind off Noor Ahmad to fall for a 27-ball 42, the RCB supporting home crowd was left stunned over the batting meltdown resulting in the hosts’ being at 116/6 from 92/0.
Amidst incredible pressure, a calm Karthik came out to diffuse the tension in the run-chase by taking down Rashid Khan with three fours – a whip over mid-wicket was followed by pull over square leg and a firm carve over cover in a 16-run 12th over.
A brace of lovely sweeps from Swapnil Singh off Noor, followed by the batter slamming Rashid down the ground for a huge six ensured RCB got over the line with 38 balls to spare, which is a big win in the race to playoffs heating up in IPL 2024.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 147 all out in 19.3 overs (Shahrukh Khan 37, Rahul Tewatia 35; Yash Dayal 2-21, Vyshak Vijaykumar 2-23) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 152/6 in 13.4 overs (Faf du Plessis 64, Virat Kohli 42; Joshua Little 4-45, Noor Ahmad 2-23) by four wickets.
Source:IANS
