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Jacks and Kohli ace Royal Challengers Bangaluru’s 201-run chase in 16 overs against Titans
RCB took 124 off the 11 overs of spin bowled by Rashid Khan (0 for 51), Noor Ahmad (0 for 43) and R Sai Kishore (1 for 30) as GT were hiding for cover on a surface that became conducive to strokeplay as the game progressed.
Jacks’ late assault – he hit four fours and nine sixes in his last 17 balls – helped RCB ransack 58 off two overs when they needed 53 off 36 balls, and in the process he brought up a 41-ball 100. It was an innings that changed speeds in a blink of an eye, and had Kohli gesturing that he missed only a bucket of popcorn and a cold drink from the best seat in the house to witness the Will-storm.
This was all after Gujarat Titans posted 200 for 3 on the back of an unbeaten 84 fromB Sai Sudrshan and a 30-ball 58 from Shahrukh Khan. With the track assisting spin at the start of the game, it looked as if GT had enough on the board. Until it wasn’t.
RCB’s powerplay squeeze
Before the start of Sunday’s fixtures, RCB had the second-worst economy rate in the powerplay, their 10.53 being only marginally better than Kolkata Knight Riders’ 10.68. But against GT, the RCB bowlers were on the money, and it all started in the first over. Swapnil Singh, playing only his second game in IPL 2024, deceived Wriddhiman Saha by flight, having him caught at short third in an attempt to go inside out.
Thereon, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan merely consolidated. Their attempts to free the shackles did not bear fruit as they could manage only one four in the last three overs of the powerplay to finish on 42 for 1. Glenn Maxwell, back in the XI for RCB, then preyed on Gill’s quiet start to have him caught brilliantly at long-on in a diving effort by Cameron Green.
Sai Sudharsan and Shahrukh inject momentum
At 45 for 2 in the seventh over, GT decided to send in Shahrukh at No. 4 and the move paid rich dividends. He got going straightaway, sweeping Maxwell over long-on for six before pulling a not-so-short one between long-on and deep midwicket for four. Shahrukh was asked to be the disruptor and he essayed that role to perfection. He was severe on Karn Sharma, hitting him for two sixes in two overs, which put him out of the attack. He then hit Green for 4, 4, 6 to bring up a 24-ball fifty, his first in the IPL.
Shahrukh’s carnage allowed Sai Sudharsan to change gears. He was on 18 off 16 when the powerplay ended, and on 32 off 23 at the 10-over mark. He attacked Karn’s legspin before putting away an-almost-perfect yorker from Mohammed Siraj to bring up his half-century off 34 balls. Titans managed to score 106 in the middle overs (7 to 16), the most they have in the phase this season. In fact, GT scored 86 off just 45 balls through the time Shahrukh was in the middle.
Even after Shahrukh’s dismissal – castled by a reverse-swinging full delivery from Siraj – Sai Sudharsan did not relent. In his next 15 balls, he scored 34 and was particularly severe on spin – a strike rate of 205 (41 off 20) as opposed to 153.57 (43 off 28) against the quicks. However, the 51 GT managed at the death did seem a tad underwhelming.
Kohli spins it the RCB way
Faf du Plessis targeted Azmatullah Omarzai in the third over of the chase, hitting him for 6, 6, 4 – a sequence that ended with a scoop over the wicketkeeper. But R Sai Kishore, introduced in the fourth over, managed to have him hole out to deep midwicket to break the opening stand. That did not deter Kohli, who lofted Rashid Khan over his head before hitting two sixes in two balls off Sai Kishore’s next.
It looked like Sai Kishore had managed to deceive him in the flight but Kohli’s loft over wide long-off just evaded a leaping David Miller, before he firmly flicked the next one cleanly over wide long-on. He used the sweep to good effect, taking 22 off the shot in six attempts. That Jacks was still only coming to grips with the surface and GT’s spinners at the other end seemed to have little effect on Kohli, who slashed one through backward point to race away to a 32-ball fifty.
Jacks cuts loose in the end
The only four Jacks had to his credit before the tenth over was a flashy outside edge after not picking Noor Ahmad’s wrong’un. Mohit Sharma’s introduction only helped him unleash his full range. He thwacked one over deep midwicket before smacking a slower one over extra cover. He then muscled Sai Kishore and Noor over long-on and deep square leg respectively in successive overs as he moved from a run-a-ball 16 to 44 off 29 inside four overs.
He just upped the destruction a level in Mohit’s second over, which went for three sixes – including one off a no-ball – and two fours as RCB came within touching distance. Jacks then went 6, 6, 4, 6, 6 to complete his century as well as RCB’s third win in ten outings and a net-run-rate boost.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 200/3 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 84*, Shahrukh Khan 58, David Miller 26*; Swapnil Singh 1/23, Mohammed Siraj 1-34, Glenn Maxwell 1-28) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 206/1 in 16 overs (Will Jacks 100*, Virat Kohli 70*, Faf du Plesis 24; Sai Kishore 1-30) by 9 wickets
(Cricinfo)
Rajat Patidar led defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) into the final with the quickest innings of 90 or more in the IPL, scoring a delightful unbeaten 93 off 33 to take his team to 254 for 5, the highest total in an IPL playoff, against the best attack of the tournament, Gujarat Titans (GT). Having finished in the top two, GT still have a chance to make the final at their home ground in Ahmedabad in Qualifier 2 as they await the winner of the Eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals. The last eight IPLs have been won by the side winning this fixture: Qualifier 1.
Asked to bat first in chase-friendly Dharamsala, RCB came out full of intent and skill despite missing the injured Phil Salt, but GT nearly snuck back in with a period of 22 balls, 18 runs and two wickets of set batters in a single Jason Holder over. In the time that Patidar scored 93 off 33, the other end, including extras, produced 68 off 37 legal deliveries.
Having never scored more than 233, GT needed something special, and only Jos Buttler came close to that with 29 off 11. The RCB fast bowlers ran riot and took out half the side within the powerplay.
RCB would have dearly loved to have Salt back, but his absence allowed them to play Jacob Duffy as the fourth overseas player. Venkatesh Iyer started the innings with two fours off the first two balls, moving around in the crease to try to mess with the lengths of the GT fast bowlers. It took Virat Kohli four balls to lay bat on Kagiso Rabada’s hard lengths, but Venkatesh ramped him for a six first ball even though he got into a tangle.
Even though Rabada came back immediately with the wicket of Venkatesh, the makeshift opener had done his job with 19 off seven. Immediately after the wicket, Kohli charged at Siraj and drove him over mid-off. Some classic batting – a flick off the hip, a late cut and a square cut – from Devdutt Padikkal consigned Rabada to 18 in his second over and brought up the team fifty in just four overs.
Rattled, GT had to move away from bowling Siraj and Rabada through the powerplay for the first time in eight matches.
Holder and Rashid Khan combined to bring GT back into the contest. Holder kept hitting the hard lengths, and Rashid bowled his first two overs for no boundary. In between, Holder managed to remove Kohli and Padikkal for 43 off 25 and 30 off 19. Not big innings but ones that understood the assignment.
Having gone funky with their selection – no Romario Shepherd in the batting-first XI so they could play an extra bowler if Shepherd was not needed – RCB promoted Krunal Pandya to likely maintain ideal points of entry for Tim David and Jitesh Sharma. While Krunal did his job with 43 off 28, it was the other batter that led to dropping jaws.
Patidar broke the spell off 22 quiet balls with a pulled six off a Holder ball that wasn’t quite short enough. After a boundary-free first over from Kulwant Khejroliya, playing his first game of T20 cricket since last April, Prasidh Krishna created two opportunities in the 14th over. The first one, a leading edge, fell between the converging wicketkeeper and deep third. The second one went straight to Rabada at deep square leg, but was dropped with Patidar on 26 off 20. At the end of the 14th over, RCB were an even 140 for 3, the last time you could say the match was even.
Starting with no-balls from Khejroliya in the 15th over, the flood gates opened for 114 runs in the last six overs. Two of his nine sixes were bona fide highlights reels for the year. The first an extra-cover drive off Rashid from the crease, and then a back-foot drive over cover off Rabada, who by now had the purple cap. That shot off Rabada left even Kohli awestruck.
The GT bowlers didn’t quite try a quick bouncer at him, but Patidar nicely steered a slow bouncer over short fine with a delayed hook. At one point, even a century seemed likely, but he didn’t quite get enough strike.
For the first time ever, both innings of an IPL match started with two fours as B Sai Sudharsan hit Duffy for fours, but the GT openers were not as successful as the RCB top order at upsetting the bowlers’ lengths. Both Shubman Gill and Sudharsan tried charging at Bhuvneshwar, but got only two runs from his first over.
The pressure was mounting, but the first wicket came in an unconventional manner, with Sudharsan losing his bat as he cut Duffy away for four. The bat ricocheted onto the leg stump before the ball could reach the fence. Bhuvneshwar then extended his dominance over Gill with a wobble-seam delivery that got his leg stump. Now Bhuvneshwar leads the head-to-head with six wickets in 79 balls for just 80 runs.
No option left, Buttler came out swinging, looked dangerous, but Josh Hazlewood got the better of him with a knuckle-ball legcutter. The rest was always going to be a formality but RCB carried it out in style. Rasikh Salam bowled a double-wicket maiden to get Nishant Sindhu and Jason Holder to leave GT five down within the powerplay. Duffy ended up with three wickets, Bhuvneshwar reclaimed the purple cap, and only some late damage control from Rahul Tewatiya prevented this from becoming the biggest defeat in an IPL playoff match.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 254 for 5 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 19, Virat Kohli 43, Devdutt Padikkal 30, Rajat Patidar 93*, Krunal Pandya 43, Jitesh Sharma 15*; Kagiso Rabada 2-54, Jason Holder 2-39, Prasidh Krishna 1-53) beat Gujarat Titans 162 in 19.3 overs (Sai Sudarshan 14, Jos Buttler 29, RahulTewatia 68; Jacob Duffy 3-39, Bhuvenshwar Kumar 2-28, Josh Hazelwood 1-39, Rasik Salam 2-24, Krunal Pandya 2-16) by 92 runs
[Cricinfo]
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