BENGALURU: Mohammed Siraj is into his ninth IPL season, of which he spent seven with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He’s played 87 of his 95 IPL matches for the Bengaluru franchises. Not too long ago, the M Chinnaswamy stadium used to be his home ground. On Wednesday, turning up for Gujarat Titans , he found familiar home comfort, returning with impressive figures of 3/19.
Coming into their first home game on the back of two wins, hosts RCB, put in to bat, were expected to explode. Instead, their top-order imploded under the Titans’ pace attack, which thrived on length and variations.
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Struggling at 94/5 in the 13th over, the big-hitting Liam Livingstone turned saviour as he smashed a 40-ball 54 (1x4; 5x6) to steer RCB to 169/8. A later burst by Tim David (32; 18b; 3x4; 2x6) ensured RCB came away with 64 runs off the last five overs to give their bowlers a chance. Jitesh Sharma contributed 33.
All their efforts came to naught as the chase turned out to be a breeze for the Titans, with Jos Buttler (73 not out off 39 balls; 5x4, 6x6) and opener Sai Sudharsan (49 of 36; 7x4, 1x6) putting on 75 runs from 47 balls for the second wicket to lay the foundation for the eight-wicket victory.
Buttler’s return to rampaging form would be the best news for the day for Titans.
Titans lost skipper Shubman Gill in the fifth over, holing out to Livingstone at deep backward point off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. That was the only blip as Sudarshan and Buttler found the gaps with ease.
Barring the pace duo of Bhuvneshwar and Yash Dayal, none of the other RCB bowlers could plug the charging Titans. RCB sensed a flicker of hope when Sudarshan offered a catch to wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma off Josh Hazlewood in the 13th over. But Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford’s 63 runs (32 balls) stand hastened the win with 13 balls to spare.
Earlier, left-arm pacer Arshad Khan, who came in for Kagiso Rabada, stunned the boisterous stadium into silence with a short-of length delivery in the second over which Virat Kohli (7) tried to pull but couldn’t get past Prasidh Krishna in the deep. That was the beginning of RCB’s top-order misery as they struggled to pick the lengths of the Titans pacers.
Kohli’s opening partner Phil Salt (14) lived dangerously and was offered two lifelines, both off Siraj’s bowling. The lifelines notwithstanding, Siraj had the last laugh. After smashing Siraj out of the park, Salt, looking to put away the next one, was beaten by pace and lost his stumps. Siraj dealt a double blow, uprooting southpaw Devdutt Padikkal’s (3) timber in his next over.
To make matters worse for RCB, pacer Prasidh (1/26), playing on his home turf, bowled a dream opening spell of 3-0-10-0 to choke the hosts, who ended the Powerplay with 38/3.
The Titans' spin duo of Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan were contrasting in impact. Left-arm spinner Sai Kishore choked RCB with figures of 2/22. On the other hand, a wayward Rashid (0/54) allowed the likes of Livingstone, who scored 39 off 17 deliveries from the leggie, to up the tempo.
Coming into their first home game on the back of two wins, hosts RCB, put in to bat, were expected to explode. Instead, their top-order imploded under the Titans’ pace attack, which thrived on length and variations.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
Struggling at 94/5 in the 13th over, the big-hitting Liam Livingstone turned saviour as he smashed a 40-ball 54 (1x4; 5x6) to steer RCB to 169/8. A later burst by Tim David (32; 18b; 3x4; 2x6) ensured RCB came away with 64 runs off the last five overs to give their bowlers a chance. Jitesh Sharma contributed 33.
All their efforts came to naught as the chase turned out to be a breeze for the Titans, with Jos Buttler (73 not out off 39 balls; 5x4, 6x6) and opener Sai Sudharsan (49 of 36; 7x4, 1x6) putting on 75 runs from 47 balls for the second wicket to lay the foundation for the eight-wicket victory.
Buttler’s return to rampaging form would be the best news for the day for Titans.
Titans lost skipper Shubman Gill in the fifth over, holing out to Livingstone at deep backward point off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. That was the only blip as Sudarshan and Buttler found the gaps with ease.
Barring the pace duo of Bhuvneshwar and Yash Dayal, none of the other RCB bowlers could plug the charging Titans. RCB sensed a flicker of hope when Sudarshan offered a catch to wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma off Josh Hazlewood in the 13th over. But Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford’s 63 runs (32 balls) stand hastened the win with 13 balls to spare.
Earlier, left-arm pacer Arshad Khan, who came in for Kagiso Rabada, stunned the boisterous stadium into silence with a short-of length delivery in the second over which Virat Kohli (7) tried to pull but couldn’t get past Prasidh Krishna in the deep. That was the beginning of RCB’s top-order misery as they struggled to pick the lengths of the Titans pacers.
On Display: Brute Force 💪
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 2, 2025
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/teSEWkWPWL #TATAIPL | #RCBvGT | @gujarat_titans pic.twitter.com/XyHwMy3KVl
Kohli’s opening partner Phil Salt (14) lived dangerously and was offered two lifelines, both off Siraj’s bowling. The lifelines notwithstanding, Siraj had the last laugh. After smashing Siraj out of the park, Salt, looking to put away the next one, was beaten by pace and lost his stumps. Siraj dealt a double blow, uprooting southpaw Devdutt Padikkal’s (3) timber in his next over.
To make matters worse for RCB, pacer Prasidh (1/26), playing on his home turf, bowled a dream opening spell of 3-0-10-0 to choke the hosts, who ended the Powerplay with 38/3.
The Titans' spin duo of Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan were contrasting in impact. Left-arm spinner Sai Kishore choked RCB with figures of 2/22. On the other hand, a wayward Rashid (0/54) allowed the likes of Livingstone, who scored 39 off 17 deliveries from the leggie, to up the tempo.
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