In what should have been a stroll, Gujarat Titans beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by four wickets after a few nervy moments in the modest 156-run chase at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Shubman Gill started the chase with a blitz as he raced to 43 off just 18 balls, including four fours and three sixes. However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar continued his dream run, picking up both Sai Sudarsana and Gill in the fifth over as RCB roared back into the game.
Jos Buttler then took the advantage of a reprieve as he was dropped by Jitesh Sharma and stroked his way to 39 runs off 19 balls with four massive sixes. It was Kumar who castled him with a stunning yorker to finish with an outstanding spell of 3/28 in four overs.
Players need to reinvent to keep pace with new scoring trends: RCB mentor KarthikRCB tried to apply pressure as Romario Shephard picked the wickets of Washington Sundar and Shahrukh Khan.
Jason Holder and Rahul Tewatia calmed the nerves in the GT dressing room with a valuable 30-run stand as GT registered their fifth win of the season with 25 balls to spare.
Earlier, it was Virat Kohli who took RCB to a blazing start, hammering five fours in the second over of the innings. However, his innings was short lived as Rabada came back strong to get his wicket.
The visitors suffered a massive collapse, losing Rajat Patidar, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, and Krunal Pandya in the span of 16 runs.
Arshad Khan was the wrecker in chief, grabbing three wickets, while Rashid Khan and Jason Holder got two each. The West Indian all-rounder was also phenomenal in the field, pouching three vital catches as RCB collapsed to 155 all out.
Devdutt Padikkal was the top scorer for the RCB with 40 runs off 24 balls. He smashed five fours and couple of sixes before he was castled by Rashid Khan.
RCB now have a seven-day downtime and will face Lucknow Super Giants at Lucknow on May 7.
Meanwhile, GT face table-toppers Punjab Kings at the same venue on Sunday.