Mohammed Siraj’s outstanding bowling performance (3 wickets for 19 runs) and Jos Buttler’s outstanding fifty helped Gujarat Titans (GT) defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 8 wickets on Wednesday, March 2, at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

After defeating Rajasthan by nine wickets at Jaipur in 2023, the Gujarat Titans achieved their second-largest chase in terms of wickets left. It’s interesting to see that the chasing team has won all six meetings between GT and RCB, with both teams winning three games each.

GT openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan attacked the challenging new-ball period carefully, avoiding needless chances, while chasing a modest 170-run goal.

The Titans had already established a strong base when RCB made their first breakthrough in the fifth over. Jos Buttler and Sudharsan maintained the chase following the early dismissal by consistently finding boundaries after the powerplay to control the necessary run rate.

Josh Hazlewood broke a 75-run partnership when RCB looked to him for a breakthrough. However, Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford skillfully led GT to victory, and it was the only significant moment of opposition.

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s comeback was led by useful innings from Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, and Tim David. The hosts scored 169/8 in their 20 overs on Sunday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The GT fast bowlers took full use of the grass covering the excellent length area on a pitch that wasn’t used for the previous season. They struck the good and back of the length zones with tremendous effect, reducing RCB to 42/4. Before Livingstone unleashed his muscular strokes to smash 54 off 40 balls and David unleashed his big-hitting smashes to score an 18-ball 32, Jitesh launched RCB’s recovery attack with a fast 33. On his comeback to the Chinnaswamy, Mohammed Siraj impressed GT with a 3-19 pick, while R Sai Kishore maintained his strong play with a 2-22.

GT got off to an exciting start when Virat Kohli hit Mohammed Siraj for four with a magnificent cover drive. Jos Buttler then dropped Phil Salt in the first ball. But by limiting Kohli on the pull and catching him at deep square leg, Arshad Khan restored the joy to the GT camp.

Devdutt Padikkal, a Bengaluru youngster, hit Siraj for a four with a cover drive on the opening ball. The pacer, however, had the last laugh when he got one to slip past Padikkal and hit the off-stump.