Royal Challengers Bengaluru tasted their first defeat of IPL 2025, at the hands of Gujarat Titans in the Chinnaswamy stadium on Wednesday, April 2. Mohammed Siraj worked up his magic on his previous team before an archetypal batting show from Jos Buttler delivered an eight-wicket win with 13 balls to spare.
What was the deciding factor?
Both teams were evenly matched after the PowerPlay in terms of runs. However, RCB had lost two more wickets than Titans and that brought about their downfall. GT aced the better part of this phase which laid the path for a monumental win.
Ex-RCB man spearheads the rout
Siraj was right on the button from the start despite the fact that Virat Kohli creamed him for an elegant boundary off just the second delivery. He should have had Phil Salt in the first over but Buttler shelled a regulation chance. However, the wholehearted character kept steaming in and managed to land a blow in his next over with an inducker that shattered Devdutt Padikkal’s stumps.
RCB were feeling the heat now, having already lost Virat Kohli to Arshad Khan as he timed one down the throat of the fielder at deep backward square leg. On song, Siraj was given an extended spell. While Salt did counterpunch with a jumbo 105metre six, Siraj retaliated ferociously with a shooter that made a mess of his stumps. The surface certainly was a pacer’s ally as Prasidh Krishna generated movement off the deck in his first over as well to round off the PowerPlay in clinical fashion.
Sai Kishore’s discipline maintains Titans ascendancy
Ishant Sharma was greeted by a boundary from the in-form RCB skipper Rajat Patidar but the stalwart brought his experience to the fore to trap Patidar plumb in front. The onus was on Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma to steady the ship and they got on with the repair job, building a useful partnership. Jitesh was severe against Ishant as he launched him for a couple of fours and a six in an over to elbow him out of the attack. Titans then introduced spin from both ends in the form of Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan, with the left-arm spinner helping his side wrest control even as the crafty Afghan went for runs. Rahul Tewatia, who dropped a catch in Sai Kishore’s earlier over, made amends to send Jitesh back. While Livingstone rode on his luck to carry on after Jos Buttler fumbled again on the night, Sai Kishore bowled a well-disguised carrom ball to bamboozle Krunal Pandya.
Livingstone, David provide the finishing kick
An innings that was devoid of momentum especially after Sai Kishore’s twin strikes sizzled to life after Livingstone attacked the under-fire Rashid. He clobbered him for a six in his penultimate over but it was the last over that really piled the misery on the Titans. Sai Kishore misjudged a catching opportunity near the rope with the ball tipping over and Livingstone cashed in to fetch two more fours to bring the locals up on their feet in the stands. In the process, he also notched up a fighting fifty. While Siraj returned to embellish his figures with Livingstone’s wicket, Prasidh felt the wrath of Tim David as the score suddenly jazzed up, with 170 in reach. Prasidh then cleaned up David with a sharp yorker off the final salvo as RCB concluded with 169 – a total that looked improbable by the end of the 15th over.
Titans blaze off the blocks in reply
Given the help the Titans pacers found with the new ball, the challenge for Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan was always going to be the navigation of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood’s exploits in the PowerPlay. The first three overs were relatively sedate before Sudharsan astonished Hazlewood with a ramp that went all the way before cracking an inch-perfect straight drive. Gill joined the party to slam Bhvuneshwar for a massive six but in his attempt to produce an encore on the very next ball, he perished. Titans finished the powerplay with 42/1 which was by no means substantial but it was not bad either given there wasn’t a lot of damage after negating five overs of the experienced campaigners.
In cruise control during the middle phase
Post the powerplay, Titans took pole position. Rasikh Salam was welcomed into the attack with a boundary each from Buttler and Sudharsan before the England swashbuckler took on the youngster once more in an over that reaped 18 runs. Sudharsan then latched on to Krunal Pandya to ring the alarm bells in the home camp but just when Titans seemed to be running away with the game, Hazlewood got rid of Sudharsan who bungled up another attempt to ramp. Buttler remained unfazed though as he galloped to his fifty with a four and a six off Livingstone whereas Sherfane Rutherford at the other end started on a promising note too.
Smooth-sailing ride to the finish line
The writing was on the wall for RCB with the equation down to 29 off 24. Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood, albeit, had an over each left up their sleeve so RCB summoned the pros into action. However, Buttler and Rutherford were up to the task. The West Indian pulled Bhuvneshwar for a gigantic six and Buttler followed it up with two outrageous maximums off Hazlewood. Rutherford applied the finishing touches with yet another pull as RCB encountered a blip on the road after a fruitful commencement to the season under renewed leadership.
