A collapse in batting during the initial overs of Royal challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB’s) innings, along with unbeaten half-century by Jos Buttler made way for Gujarat Titans (GT) to secure an 8-wicket victory at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Winning the toss, GT had opted to bowl first.
The innings began for RCB with a shock as their star batter Virat Kohli flopped on a cheap score. Soon after Kohli’s dismissal, Devdutt Padikkal was the one to go downas RCB was 2 down in first 3 overs. The fall of wicket went on a bit further, and Phil Salt also got dismissed, as RCB was 3 down by the time powerplay came to an end. The batting struggle continued for the team, as captain Rajat Patidar was the next player to get dismissed, and Bengaluru was 4 down by 7th over.
Jitesh Sharma and Liam Livingstone then stitched up a partnership, saving the team’s innings and pushing the total to 73 by the time half innings had ended for RCB. However, their partnership did not go for long as jitesh got dismissed by the 13th over. The sluggish batting kept going the same way as the team lost Krunal Pandya by the end of 15th over.
As the final 5 overs remained Liam Livingstone then decided to open up his bat and played a bit aggressively, securing his half-century by the end of 18th over. However, his accomplishment could not last long as he got dismissed a couple balls later. Overall, the team recovered from their initianl batting downfall and as their quota of 20 overs ended, RCB managed to post out a total fo 169 on board.
The innings for Gujarat Titans began or a normal note, with just star player Shubman Gill getting dismissed by the 5th over. Powerplay ended for Gujarat with a score of 42/1, and the match continued with a constant pace after that. By the time half innings were complete, the team had reached score of 82/1.
After the 10-over mark, batters Sai Sudarshan seemed to have picked up some pace as he was hitting big shots. However, this explosive style did not last long as he got caught out in the 13th over. By the time 15 overs were finished, Jos Buttler had completed his half century and GT was in need of 36 runs. Buttler played explosively in the final moments of the game, as the team completed their target in 17.5 overs and secured an 8-wicket victory.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 169/8 after 20 overs
Gujarat Titans: 170/2 after 17.5 overs
