Sparkling cameos by skipper Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler complemented a stellar display with the ball and in the field as carrying Gujarat Titans beat defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday.
Gujarat cruised to a four-wicket victory with more than four overs to spare at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
All seven previous matches in the IPL between the sides had been won by the chasing team and Gill therefore had little hesitation in asking Bengaluru to bat first.
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π₯ Virat Kohli with 5οΈβ£ consecutive boundaries against Kagiso Rabada π₯
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Virat Kohli smashed Kagiso Rabada for five fours in the second over of the match before succumbing to the same bowler not long thereafter as Bengaluru went from 79 for two to 155 all out.
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π₯ Kagiso Rabada has the last laugh against Virat Kohli π
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Devdutt Padikkal top-scored with a fluent 40 and Kohli had managed 28 off 13 balls, but the rest of the RCB batting fell away badly.
Left-arm pacer Arshad Khan was Gujaratβs most successful bowler with 3-22, and he received excellent support from Afghan Rashid Khan.
West Indian Jason Holder had headlined a flawless first half for Gujarat with three catches to go with the wickets of Jitesh Sharma and Romario Shepherd, triggering a middle-order collapse.
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That compelled Bengaluru to summon Venkatesh Iyer as the impact substitute.
βIt was one of those nights (when the ball kept following me),β player-of-the-match Holder said.
βThe energy was quite high. I am just happy to hold on to the chances and happy to help the team win.β
Having deployed Venkatesh to rescue their innings, Bengaluru found themselves a specialist seamer short and Gujarat made them pay despite a wobble during the middle stages of the modest chase.
Bengaluru were heavily reliant on the seasoned new-ball duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood to strike early, but Gill had other ideas.
The opener tore into Hazlewood, hammering the Australian for three fours and two sixes in the second over to give his team a strong start.
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π₯ Shubman Gill took on Josh Hazlewood for 2οΈβ£4οΈβ£ runs in the over during his 43 (18) π
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Bengaluru fought back through Bhuvneshwar, who accounted for Sudharsan and Gill after a sparkling 43, but Buttler kept up the momentum with a hat-trick of sixes in his knock of 39.
Bhuvneshwar returned for a one-over final spell during which he yorked Buttler for his 17th wicket of the season.
With their prolific top three back in the hut, Gujarat made heavy weather of the chase.
Shepherd, getting an extended bowl largely because Bengaluru didnβt have a specialist third seamer, dismissed Shahrukh Khan and Washington Sundar in the space of three deliveries to spark some excitement.
However, Gill and Buttler had scored so rapidly that Gujarat didnβt have to contend with run-rate pressure.
Rahul Tewatia held the second half of the chase together and Rashid struck the winning boundary with 25 deliveries to spare.
β AFP
Photo: Amit Dave/Reuters
