IPL 2024: Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Bowlers Shine as Royal Challengers Bengaluru Beat Gujarat Titans by 4 Wickets

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Gujarat Titans (GT) by 4 wickets in their Indian Premier League clash at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.

IPL 2024: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans – HIGHLIGHTS

The win also lifted RCB to seventh place on the table with eight points from 11 matches, and kept their mathematical chances of making it to the play-offs alive.

Du Plesiss (64, 23b, 10×4, 3×6) and Kohli (42, 27b, 2×4, 4×6), who added 92 runs in just 35 balls for the opening wicket, were in prime touch as Royal Challengers moved past a frail target of 148, braving some nervy moments, most of it their own creation.

Du Plessis and Kohli dealt in boundaries as the home side racked in 92 runs in Power Play, that contained 10 fours and seven maximums.

Both Du Plessis and Kohli were severe on all GT bowlers, as the latter began the butchering with two sixes off pacer Mohit Sharma in the first over.

Du Plessis was in no mood to play the role of a sidekick as he waded into left-arm pacer Josh Little with a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 4 in the second over that produced a total of 20 runs.

The Titans introduced IPL debutant left-arm spinner Manav Suthar in the hope of containing Kohli at least, but the ploy was foiled spectacularly.

The RCB talisman showed his increasing comfort against spin, clobbering Suthar for two successive sixes.

Du Plessis reserved his punitive blade for Mohit, whom he carted around for four fours in the fifth over, as the South African reached fifty in just 18 balls before falling to Little.

RCB entered a phase of struggle from there as they lost last match centurion Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green between the sixth and 10th overs for just 20 runs.

Little (4/45) and spinner Noor Ahmad (2/23) were the chief perpetrators as RCB slipped from 92 for 1 to 112 for five.

Ahmad soon ousted Kohli as RCB were 117 for six but Dinesh Karthik (21 not out, 12b) was cool under pressure as RCB notched their overall fourth and third win in a row of this season.

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Earlier, Yash Dayal, Vyshak Vijaykumar and Mohammed Siraj picked two wickets each in a superb bowling performance as RCB bowled out GT for a below-par 147. 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 had been bowled out this season.

Pushed into batting first, Wriddhiman Saha’s poor form continued when Siraj found late movement on a short and wide ball, which was good enough to find an outside edge. It was also the fourth time Siraj took out Saha in the IPL.

Siraj found late movement again when he forced Gill to whip and ended up with a deep point taking a leading edge. The consistent Sai Sudharsan was next to fall, pulling without footwork and top-edge caught by mid-off against Green, as GT ended the Power-play at a paltry 23/3, the lowest total in this six-over phase of IPL 2024.

Post a horror Power-play, GT got some boundaries flowing, starting with Shahrukh glancing and cutting off Vyshak in the seventh over. He and Miller, dropped on 23 by Karn Sharma off Green, got some sublime timing on their shots to keep GT innings going as 38 runs came from overs 8-11.

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-m 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, apart from a run-out of Mohit Sharma in the final over as RCB got a team hat-trick to bowl out GT with three balls unused in their innings.

(With inputs from Agencies)