Royal Challengers Bengaluru 206 for 1 (Jacks 100*, Kohli 70*) beat Gujarat Titans 200 for 3 (Sai Sudharsan 84*, Shahrukh 58, Swapnil 1-23) by nine wickets
That is till Jacks decided to remind everybody of his presence and hitting abilities. He went on a six-hitting spree to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ransack 58 off the next two overs and overhaul the 201 target with four overs to spare. In the process, he also completely sidetracked Kohli’s knock and blitzed to a 41-ball century, his first in the IPL, with minimum fuss. It was an innings that changed speeds in a blink of an eye, and had Kohli gesturing that he missed only a bucket of popcorn and a cold drink from the best seat in the house to witness the Will-storm.
RCB’s powerplay squeeze
Thereon, Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan merely consolidated. Their attempts to free the shackles did not bear fruit as they could manage only one four in the last three overs of the powerplay to finish on 42 for 1. Glenn Maxwell, back in the XI for RCB, then preyed on Gill’s quiet start to have him caught brilliantly at long-on in a diving effort by Cameron Green.
Sai Sudharsan and Shahrukh inject momentum
At 45 for 2 in the seventh over, GT decided to send in Shahrukh at No. 4 and the move paid rich dividends. He got going straightaway, sweeping Maxwell over long-on for six before pulling a not-so-short one between long-on and deep midwicket for four. Shahrukh was asked to be the disruptor and he essayed that role to perfection. He was severe on Karn Sharma, hitting him for two sixes in two overs, which put him out of the attack. He then hit Green for 4, 4, 6 to bring up a 24-ball fifty, his first in the IPL.
Shahrukh’s carnage allowed Sai Sudharsan to change gears. He was on 18 off 16 when the powerplay ended, and on 32 off 23 at the 10-over mark. He attacked Karn’s legspin before putting away an-almost-perfect yorker from Mohammed Siraj to bring up his half-century off 34 balls. Titans managed to score 106 in the middle overs (7 to 16), the most they have in the phase this season. In fact, GT scored 86 off just 45 balls through the time Shahrukh was in the middle.
Even after Shahrukh’s dismissal – castled by a reverse-swinging full delivery from Siraj – Sai Sudharsan did not relent. In his next 15 balls, he scored 34 and was particularly severe on spin – a strike rate of 205 (41 off 20) as opposed to 148.27 (43 off 28) against the quicks. However, the 51 GT managed at the death did seem a tad underwhelming.
Full report to follow…
S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Sudarshanan7
Source: ESPN Crickinfo