Jacks and Kohli ace RCB’s 201-run chase in 16 overs against Titans
Reported By Harsh Kumar
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.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru overcame any vulnerabilities against spin in some style against Gujarat Titans, running down a target of 201 with nine wickets in hand and four overs to spare in Ahmedabad. Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 70 off 44 balls – 34 of them against spin – led the charge before a blitz from Will Jacks, who completed his maiden IPL ton on the last ball, helped RCB home with four overs to spare.
RCB took 124 off the 11 overs of spin bowled by Rashid Khan (0 for 51), Noor Ahmad (0 for 43) and R Sai Kishore (1 for 30) as GT was hiding for cover on a surface that became conducive to strokeplay as the game progressed.
Jacks’ late assault – he hit four fours and nine sixes in his last 17 balls – helped RCB ransack 58 off two overs when they needed 53 off 36 balls, and in the process, he brought up a 41-ball 100.
It was an inning that changed speeds in the 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.
This was all after Gujarat Titans posted 200 for 3 on the back of an unbeaten 84 from Sai Sudharsan and a 30-ball 58 from Shahrukh Khan. With the track assisting spin at the start of the game, it looked as if GT had enough on the board. Until it wasn’t.
Before the start of Sunday’s fixtures, RCB had the second-worst economy rate in the powerplay, their 10.53 being only marginally better than Kolkata Knight Riders’ 10.68. But against GT, the RCB bowlers were on the money, and it all started in the first over. Swapnil Singh, playing only his second game in IPL 2024, deceived Wriddhiman Saha by flight, having him caught at short third in an attempt to go inside out.
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.
Faf du Plessis targeted Azmatullah Omarzai in the third over of the chase, hitting him for 6, 6, 4 – a sequence that ended with a scoop over the wicketkeeper. But R Sai Kishore, introduced in the fourth over, managed to have him hole out to deep midwicket to break the opening stand. That did not deter Kohli, who lofted Rashid Khan over his head before hitting two sixes in two balls off Sai Kishore’s next.
It looked like Sai Kishore had managed to deceive him in the flight but Kohli’s loft over wide long-off just evaded a leaping David Miller, before he firmly flicked the next one cleanly over wide long-on. He used the sweep to good effect, taking 22 off the shot in six attempts. That Jacks was still only coming to grips with the surface and GT’s spinners at the other end seemed to have little effect on Kohli, who slashed one through backward point to race away to a 32-ball fifty.
