Bangalore, News Agency : Since the start of IPL 2024, Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have been at the bottom of the points table for most of the time, have made a sudden comeback. In Saturday's match, they won against Gujarat Titans by 4 wickets and 38 balls to spare and climbed to the seventh position in the points table.
RCB showed a great team performance against Gujarat Titans. Mohammad Siraj, Yash Dayal took wickets at strategic moments. Virat Kohli really turned the game around with an amazing run out. Vijaykumar Vaishakh took 3 consecutive wickets in the 20th over to restrict Gujarat to 147 runs.
Bengaluru's Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis came out to bat to chase the target of 148 runs set by Gujarat. Both of them adopted an aggressive posture from the start. Faf du Plessis completed his half-century in just 18 balls while raining fours and sixes. It was the second fastest fifty for Bengaluru.
After his half-century, Faf du Plessis was dismissed by Joshua Little in the 6th over. Du Plessis scored 64 off 23 balls. He hit 10 fours and 3 sixes in this innings. Then in the 7th over, Will Jacks was dismissed by Noor Ahmed for just 1 run. Du Plessis and Will Jacks were both caught by Shah Rukh Khan.
Bangalore had a brilliant start. But, after 6 overs of power play, Gujarat bowlers made a strong comeback. After Will Jacks, both Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell were dismissed by Joshua Little in the 8th over. Patidar was dismissed for 2 runs and Maxwell for 4 runs. Both were caught by David Miller.
Bengaluru batsmen were seen struggling against Joshua Little's bowling. He also chased Cameron Green back for 1 run in the 10th over. Hence, from 92 not out, Bengaluru's condition went to 111 for 5. Just when Virat and Dinesh Karthik looked set to seal victory after Joshua Little's spell ended, Virat was dismissed by Noor Ahmed. Virat was dismissed for 42 runs off 27 balls. At that time, Bangalore had scored 116 runs. So after just 92 not out, Bangalore lost 6 wickets in just 24 runs.
After a collapse in the middle overs, Dinesh Karthik partnered Swapnil Singh to lead Bengaluru to victory. Bengaluru completed the challenge of 147 runs by scoring 152 runs in 13.4 overs. Karthik remained unbeaten on 21 off 12 balls, while Swapnil remained unbeaten on 15 off 9 balls.
Earlier, RCB won the toss and decided to chase the runs. Mohammad Siraj dismissed Wriddhiman Saha (1) in the second over. In his next over, Siraj sent Shubman Gill (2) to the tent as well, giving Gujarat a big blow. Cameron Green forced Sai Sudarshan (6) to mishit in his first over and Virat Kohli took an easy catch. In the first power play, Gujarat lost 3 wickets for 23 runs. This was the worst performance in the IPL this season. Earlier, Punjab Kings scored 27 for 3 against Sunrisers Hyderabad. David Miller and Shah Rukh Khan tried to revive Gujarat's innings and took the team to 61 runs in 10 overs. Miller was caught by Karn Sharma in the 11th over. But, Karn Sharma got a wicket on his bowling. Miller fell for 30 off 20 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes, ending his 61-run partnership with Shah Rukh.
Shah Rukh Khan (37) was run out in the next over and half of Gujarat's team returned to the tent for 87 runs. Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia put Gujarat back on track. Yash Dayal broke the partnership with 44 runs off 29 balls and Rashid was bowled for 18 runs. Yash turned the match around by dismissing Tewatia (35) in the same over. The entire Gujarat team returned to the tent with 147 runs in 19.3 overs.
Orange Cap again to Kohli
Virat Kohli has once again won the Orange Cap while scoring his 10th run. Two days ago, Rituraj Gaikwad got the orange cap by scoring 9 runs more than him. But, now once again Virat has won the orange cap.