Royal Challengers Bengaluru Mohammed Siraj. File
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

Mohammed Siraj’s self-belief and never-say-die attitude are his real strengths, said batting legend Sunil Gavaskar after the pacer set up Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s four-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League in Bengaluru.

Siraj’s two-wicket burst in the powerplay to remove Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha played a crucial role as GT could manage just 147 all-out in 19.3 overs on May 4.

“Every time you see Mohammed Siraj, you know that he’s going to give his heart out. Remember the time when his father passed away when he was in Australia. He carried on,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports Cricket Live.

“A lot of people would want to go back because your parents are so dear to you. But I think he realised that playing for India was important. Also, he was not established at that stage. An established player would 100 per cent have gone back.

“And remember how spectacularly he bowled in that Gabba Test match. Getting somebody like Steve Smith out when he was on 55… so this is the real strength of Mohammed Siraj, the self-belief and the never-say-die attitude on the field.” Chasing a modest 148, Faf du Plessis (64) and Virat Kohli (42) put on 92 runs inside the powerplay to give RCB a blistering start.

RCB, however, slipped from 92/0 to 117/6 before romping home in 13.4 overs.

“Extraordinary stuff during the power play when RCB was batting. It was just game on, and then all of a sudden things changed. Were they trying to counter the net run rate solution? And if that is the case, then well played to them because they needed to go hard,” former Australian batter Matthew Hayden said.

“So they lost those three wickets to Joshua Little straight away in that middle stage of the match. And then they were able to consolidate because, simply as you heard Faf at the presentation say, anything short of 180, even 190 on this high-scoring venue, was never going to be enough runs.” Former England cricketer and coach Paul Collingwood also lauded the “aggressive approach” of the RCB batters.

“The intensity displayed by RCB with the ball was commendable. Even while chasing a modest total, seeing Virat Kohli stepping out of his crease and effortlessly flicking a delivery for six on just the second ball indicated their aggressive intent. This signals danger for their opponents.

“Despite their position near the bottom of the table, RCB didn’t hold back. They showed clarity, bravery, and aggression, particularly in the middle order. Although they lost wickets, I commend their aggressive approach,” he said.

An authoritative Royal Challengers Bengaluru shut down Gujarat Titans by four wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

A third win in a row pushed RCB to seventh on the points table, providing impetus to its playoff hopes.

The home team outplayed GT in all departments. A disciplined bowling performance restricted GT to 147, before a belligerent knock from Faf du Plessis (64, 23b, 10×4, 3×6) left GT with nowhere to hide.

Power play

With an eye on improving the net run-rate, du Plessis and opening partner Virat Kohli put on a whopping 92 runs in 5.5 overs. The electric start helped RCB reach the target with 6.2 overs to spare.

Kohli (42, 27b, 2×4, 4×6) went past Chennai Super Kings’ Ruturaj Gaikwad to regain his place as the tournament’s highest run-scorer.

RCB experienced minor jitters when it fell to 117 for six, but the experienced Dinesh Karthik (21 n.o.) ensured a job well done. RCB’s memorable night out was set up by a brilliant display with the ball.

The fast bowlers — Mohammed Siraj, V. Vyshak, Yash Dayal, and Cameron Green — were destructive on a pitch which offered extra carry.

GT did itself no favours by moving at a snail’s pace with the bat.

The perplexing trend was started by openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill, who scratched about to get two runs in the first two overs.

The first boundary of the essay came in the fourth over, when an inside edge gave Shahrukh Khan some respite.

GT crawled to 23 for three in six overs— the lowest PowerPlay score thus far in IPL 2024.

The tedious repair work was left to David Miller and Shahrukh.

Miller received a life on 23, when Karn Sharma dropped a straightforward chance at deep square-leg. It did not prove to be costly, as Karn deceived Miller with a flighted delivery a short while later.

An athletic piece of fielding from Kohli got rid of the dangerous Shahrukh (37).

Kohli swooped in, picked up the ball and threw down the stumps at the non-strikers’ end to leave Shahrukh short of the crease.

GT’s hopes of recording a substantial total vanished with Shahrukh’s dismissal.

SCOREBOARD

GUJARAT TITANS

Wriddhiman Saha c Karthik b Siraj 1 (7b), Shubman Gill c Vyshak b Siraj 2 (7b), Sai Sudharsan c Kohli b Green 6 (14b), Shahrukh Khan (run out) 37 (24b, 5×4, 1×6), David Miller c Maxwell b Karn 30 (20b, 3×4, 2×6), Rahul Tewatia c Vyshak b Dayal 35 (21b, 5×4, 1×6), Rashid Khan b Dayal 18 (14b, 2×4, 1×6), Vijay Shankar (Impact Player in place of Sai Sudharsan) c Siraj b Vyshak 10 (7b, 2×4), Manav Suthar c Swapnil b Vyshak 1 (2b), Mohit Sharma (run out) 0 (1b), Noor Ahmad (not out) 0 (0b); Extras (b-2, lb-1, w-4): 7; Total (in 19.3 overs): 147.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-1 (Saha, 1.3 overs), 2-10 (Gill, 3.5), 3-19 (Sai Sudharsan, 5.3), 4-80 (Miller, 11.4), 5-87 (Shahrukh, 12.4), 6-131 (Rashid, 17.3), 7-136 (Tewatia, 17.6), 8-147 (Suthar, 19.1), 9-147 (Mohit, 19.2).

RCB BOWLING

Swapnil 1-0-1-0, Siraj 4-0-29-2, Dayal 4-0-21-2, Green 4-0-28-1, Vyshak 3.3-0-23-2, Karn 3-0-42-1.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS

Virat Kohli c Saha b Noor 42 (27b, 2×4, 4×6), Faf du Plessis c Shahrukh b Little 64 (23b, 10×4, 3×6), Will Jacks c Shahrukh b Noor 1 (3b), Rajat Patidar (Impact Player in place of Dayal) c Miller b Little 2 (3b), Glenn Maxwell c Miller b Little 4 (3b, 1×4), Cameron Green c Shahrukh b Little 1 (2b), Dinesh Karthik (not out) 21 (12b, 3×4), Swapnil Singh (not out) 15 (9b, 2×4, 1×6); Extras (lb-1, w-1): 2; Total (for six wkts. in 13.4 overs): 152.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-92 (du Plessis, 5.5), 2-99 (Jacks, 6.5), 3-103 (Patidar, 7.3), 4-107 (Maxwell, 7.6), 5-111 (Green, 9.5), 6-117 (Kohli, 10.4).

TITANS BOWLING

Mohit 2-0-32-0, Little 4-0-45-4, Suthar 2-0-26-0, Noor 4-0-23-2, Rashid 1.4-0-25-0.

Toss: RCB.

PoM: Siraj.

RCB won by four wickets with 38 balls to spare.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be meeting Gujarat Titans in Bengaluru to notch a mandatory win to keep the dream of reaching playoffs flickering.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Having notched up wins in its last two fixtures, Royal Challengers Bengaluru has kept its IPL playoff hopes alive. RCB will strive to keep the momentum going with a good result against Gujarat Titans in Bengaluru on May 4.

RCB holds sway, having gotten past the same opponent last week at Ahmedabad. The victory was set up by a brilliant unbeaten 41-ball 100 from Will Jacks, with Virat Kohli (70 n.o.) playing the supporting role.

Unlike many other sides, RCB has not been able to take full advantage of home conditions. Faf du Plessis and his men have managed only one positive result in four games held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here.

Jacks believes that RCB is now well poised to do well at home, given that their batters have found form. “We do not want to focus on our losing record here. Because of the playing conditions, it is hard to have home advantage. The pitches are good and the boundaries are small. If a batter gets going, it is hard to stop. Now that our batters are in form, we can hopefully finish our home games strongly,” Jacks said.

The city welcomed a long-awaited spell of rain on Friday, even if it mildly disrupted the training schedule of the teams. The skies cleared up later, allowing players to get a hit under lights.

Much like RCB, GT is teetering on the edge of elimination. With eight points from 10 matches, the visitor needs to get on a winning streak to push for a playoff spot. GT must address its bowling woes, having conceded 200-plus scores in its last two outings.

Teams (from):

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh, Saurav Chauhan.

Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), David Miller, Matthew Wade, Wriddhiman Saha, Kane Williamson, Abhinav Manohar, B. Sai Sudharsan, Darshan Nalkande, Vijay Shankar, Jayant Yadav, Rahul Tewatia, Noor Ahmad, Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan, Joshua Little, Mohit Sharma, Azmatullah Omarzai, Umesh Yadav, Shahrukh Khan, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Manav Suthar, Spencer Johnson, Sandeep Warrier, BR Sharath.

Match starts at 7.30 PM.