The Royal Challengers Bangalore kept their qualification dreams intact with a brilliant win over table-toppers Gujarat Titans in what was a mostly one-sided contest. The Royal Challengers delivered across all departments, and managed to register a comprehensive victory over Hardik Pandya’s men, taking their tally to 16 points. The Challengers will now have to rely on the result of the Mumbai-Delhi game to know their fate, as a Delhi win will draw the curtains on their campaign.
However, the RCB will be delighted with Virat Kohli’s return to form, as the former skipper played a magnificent innings of 73. There will also be cause for concern in the RCB camp, with attack leader Harshal Patel going off the field with an injury. The Gujarat Titans will remain unaffected with the loss, as they will finish in first place, although they would have liked a win to end the group stage on a high.
The Gujarat Titans won the toss, and elected to bat first in what has become a popular option in recent games. The RCB bowlers, which included Siddharth Kaul in place of Mohammed Siraj, did very well, even in the powerplay, despite Kaul’s first over going for 14 runs. Josh Hazlewood picked up Shubman Gill in his first over, sending the Punjab batsman back for a score of just one run. Matthew Wade was in good touch, with the Aussie getting a solid start to his innings. However, things ended early for Wade, with a contentious LBW call going against him.
Hardik Pandya joined the in-form Wriddhiman Saha in the middle. Pandya was superb, as he has been on many occasions with the bat this season, as he and David Miller built up a very good partnership in the middle overs. The RCB bowlers, although wicketless, did not allow the batsmen to score freely, and as a result, Miller was dismissed attempting to take the attacking route, but ended up hitting it straight back at Wanindu Hasaranga who took a brilliant catch. Rashid Khan and Pandya, nevertheless, were able to get the Titans a good finish, as the leaders finished on 168/5.
With a place in the playoffs on the line, RCB and Virat Kohli in particular, started off brilliantly, with the maestro riding his luck in the early stages of the innings to get his side off to a wonderful start. Faf du Plessis played second fiddle all along as Kohli got runs at a very quick rate. We finally got to see the Virat Kohli that we were longing for all these days, as he played a characteristic knock, aggressive and elegant at the same time. The opening partnership between the two stalwarts of the game meant that the Royal Challengers already had the game in the bag.
Kohli also made history, as he completed 7000 runs for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. No one comes even close to Kohli in terms of scoring as many runs for a single franchise, one that he has been a part of for the last 15 years.
Du Plessis was eventually dismissed for 46, but RCB were well on course for victory. Glenn Maxwell looked in a tremendous hurry to finish the game, understandably so, as the all-rounder attempted to somewhat recover the already diminished net run rate. Maxwell was absolutely outstanding, playing ridiculously inventive shots with ease. Kohli was dismissed after a masterful innings of 73, but nothing mattered to Maxwell who finished the game with eight balls to spare, ending his cameo on 40* in 18 balls. The Delhi Capitals hold all the cards now, as the qualification entirely depends on whether they win or lose their final game against the five-time champions Mumbai Indians.
Brief scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore 170 for 2 (Kohli 73, du Plessis 44, Rashid 2-32 ) beat Gujarat Titans 168 for 5 (Pandya 62*, Miller 34, Hazlewood 2-39) by eight wickets
