Gujarat Titans halt Royal Challengers’ progress, win by 8 wickets; Buttler, Siraj shines
Titans chase down RCB's 169 in 17.5 overs on the back of Buttler's 73 not out and Sai Sudharsan's 49 runs in 36 balls
Bengaluru: Jos Buttler made a fifty marked by creativity and sustained aggression to support the impeccable spell of Mohammed Siraj as Gujarat Titans carved a smooth eight-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here on Wednesday.
Buttler (73 not out, 39b, 5×4, 6×6) and B Sai Sudharsan (49, 36b) added 75 runs off 45 balls for the second wicket, as the Titans ended up at 170 for two in 17.5 overs, while chasing RCB’s 169 for eight.
However, the Gujarat side’s chase did not start as they would have liked, losing skipper Shubman Gill for a laboured 14.
The Titans’ skipper clobbered Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six but fell in the very next ball to the pacer, lobbing him to Liam Livingstone in the deep.
But it brought together Sudharsan and Buttler, who extracted runs off the RCB bowlers in contrasting style.
Sudharsan’s innings was an antithesis to the modern T20 ethos, as it was all about elegantly timed shots such as a wristy flick for a boundary off Yash Dayal or a square cut for four off the same bowler.
There was a touch of impishness too to the innings when he moved across and scooped pacer Josh Hazlewood for a six over the stumper’s head.
However, a second attempt to play a similar shot off the Australian ended his stay, giving a simple catch to Jitesh Sharma.
But Sudharsan’s dismissal, which came in the immediate aftermath of RCB taking the second ball in the 13th over, was a minor jitter in Gujarat’s chase, which was marshalled so effectively by Buttler.
The Englishman was slightly jittery to begin with but once he found the right gears, he was unstoppable, fetching those thunderous shots off the shelf regularly.
Buttler reached his fifty with a sumptuous six off spinner Livingstone over long-on off 31 balls and his imperious touch was evident in the three sixes he hammered off Hazlewood to finish the match.
Buttler and Impact Sub Sherfane Rutherford (30 not out, 18b) added 63 runs for the third wicket as Gujarat strolled home.
Earlier, Siraj led a group of fired-up GT bowlers as they limited the vaunted RCB batting unit to 169 for eight despite a providential 54 by Livingstone.
Once the Titans decided to bowl first, they would not have envisioned such a domination over a potent batting line-up even considering a rather unexpectedly slow and grippy pitch.
The slip-down started with the wicket of Virat Kohli (7), who began with a lovely cover-driven four off Siraj (4-0-19-3).
But the ace batter fell to left-arm seamer Arshad Khan, who came in for Kagiso Rabada, attempting a pull that ended in the hands of Prasidh Krishna at fine leg.
Thereafter, the RCB top-order was poleaxed by GT bowlers led by Siraj, who joined the side after a seven-season stint in the red and gold jersey ahead of IPL 2025.
Phil Salt, who was dropped on zero by Buttler off Siraj, skipper Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal paraded back to the hut as RCB slumped to 42 for four in 6.2 overs.
However, Salt, who slammed Siraj for a 105 metre six, and Devdutt might feel a tinge of regret because both of them tried to give space to themselves for big shots only to get castled by Siraj.
However, the Royal Challengers found some stability through Jitesh Sharma (33, 21b) and Livingstone (54, 40b, 1×4, 5×6) as they added 52 runs off 38 balls for the fifth wicket.
The impressive left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (2/22), who varied his line and pace exemplarily, broke the alliance, dismissing Jitesh, who skied him to Rahul Tewatia.
It was a redemption point for Tewatia as well because he had earlier dropped Livingstone on 9 off Sai Kishore.
It proved costly for GT as the English batter hammered an off-colour Rashid Khan for three sixes in an over, two in a row, to reach his fifty in 39 balls.
Livingstone milked 46 precious runs for the seventh wicket with Tim David to take RCB past the 150-run mark.
