RCB Vs GT, 14th IPL Match 2025 : Siraj, Kishore, Sudharsan, and Buttler Outshone RCB’s Home Advantage .

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU Vs GUJARAT TITANS, 14TH IPL MATCH, BENGALURU : Siraj, Kishore, Sudharsan, and Buttler Outshone RCB’s Home Advantage .

Gujarat Titans put up a fine all-round performance to defeat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by eight wickets in their Indian Premier League match in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Setting 170 as the target, GT chased it down with as many as 13 balls to spare. Swashbuckling Jos Buttler scored the most for GT with 73 not out off 39 balls while opener Sai Sudharsan hit a 49 off 36 as the two shared 75 runs for second wicket to propel the visitors near to their second win in three games. Sherfane Rutherford did not out on 30 off 18. Mohammed Siraj had earlier picked up two wickets in the powerplay as RCB, who were sent in to bat, recovered to 169 for eight. Siraj, Kishore, Sudharsan, and Buttler Outshone RCB’s Home Advantage .

TOSS-

Gujarat Titans won the toss and opted to bowl first.

TEAMS LINE UP-

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad:

Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal

Gujarat Titans Squad:

Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Arshad Khan, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ishant Sharma

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU –

It was a beginning few had expected. Virat Kohli drove him for a beautiful boundary off just the second ball but as things turned out, Siraj was bang on the money from the very beginning. He ought to have had Phil Salt in the opening over but Buttler spurned a regulation opportunity. But he kept at it and made his breakthrough in his next over, getting a delivery to nip back in sharply to smash through Devdutt Padikkal’s stumps. Before that though, RCB were jolted at the other end when Arshad Khan landed the crucial blow as he lured his big fish when Kohli hit one straight to the fielder at deep backward square leg. Siraj still controlled the powerplay, however, as he was given his third consecutive over by Gill. Although Salt did free the shackles hitting Siraj for a mammoth 105metre six, the right-arm pacer bounced back in rage, giving the ball a fuller length that just went on to shake up the stumps. The surface had something for the pacers and Prasidh Krishna also got the ball to move off the deck in his first over to finish off the powerplay in style.

Ishant Sharma, who had taken the ball at the very start of the sixth over, both were floored by the RCB captain Rajat Patidar who creamed a fuller delivery to the boundary. But the senior pro did not take long to correct the mistake and shortened his length a tad that trapped Patidar plumb in front to heap more misery on the home team. After that, Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma steadied the ship with a handy partnership. Jitesh was ruthless on Ishant as he struck him for a couple of boundaries and a six in an over to get him out of the attack. Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan were bowled in tandem by Titans and if the Afghanistan spinner proved expensive many a time, the Chennai spinner made sure his side got back control. Rahul Tewatia, who had dropped a catch off Sai Kishore earlier in the over, caught one from Jitesh this time. Sai Kishore bowled a disguised carrom ball to send Krunal Pandya packing while Livingstone harped on some luck after Jos Buttler helped himself to a second fumble of the night.

An innings which had plodded along until Sai Kishore struck twice in the 14th over and still looked set to lead nowhere until Livingstone took a shine to Rashid. He hit him for a six in his penultimate over but it was the last over which really hurt the Titans. Sai Kishore made a mistake while trying to catch a ball near the boundary which went over the ropes and Livingstone capitalised when he smashed two balls over the ropes to provide enough cheer for the RCB faithful. At the same time, he raised a fighting fifty. And while Siraj returned to bowl a fine over to end his night with the wicket of Livingstone, Prasidh was plundered for 4,6,4 by Tim David as the score was suddenly on the verge of crossing 170. Prasidh then wrapped up David with a yorker of the last ball to finish with 169 for RCB — a total that looked unlikely at the end of the 15th over.

GUJARAT TITANS-

And with the purchase the Titans pacers discovered with the new ball, the challenge for Gill and Sai Sudharsan was always going to be against Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood in the powerplay. There was nothing significant after the first three overs before Sudharsan shocked Hazlewood with a ramp that fetched him a boundary and then followed it up with the most perfect straight drive for a four. Riding a bit of momentum, Gill sent Bhvuneshwar to the dark with a six but the batter perished in his effort to repeat the shot off the very next delivery after mis-timing the ball. Titans ended the powerplay on 42/1 which was no way extravagant in this wicket, but enough given there was not much damage after seeing off five overs of Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood.

After the powerplay, it was only one-way traffic. Sudharsan and Buttler greeted Rasikh Salam into the attack with a boundary each before the former England captain targeted the bite-sized pacer once more in an over that went for 18. Krunal was slapped for a boundary by Sudharsan, who was looking composed, and the writer hit two more boundaries off the left-arm spinner to stamp his authority. At the moment, when Titans were walking away with the game, Hazlewood came back to dismiss Sudharsan who couldn’t connect cleanly with another ramp. Buttler did not let this distract him as he reached his fifty with a four and a six off Livingstone while Sherfane Rutherford was also off to a good start at the other end.

 

The chase was well and truly in the control of GT by the time the equation had come down to 29 off 24 with. At that moment,Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood had one over each left and the hopes of RCB no matter how dim were pinned on them. But what followed was just some terrific batting from Buttler and Rutherford. They pulled Bhuvneshwar for a monster six and Buttler hit two ridiculously outrageous figures off Hazlewood that pretty much summed up the home sides night. Rutherford followed that with another pull to make it three sixes from the over, sending the ball over the ropes to seal the win.

Brief scores:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru 169/8 in 20 overs (Liam Livingstone 54; Mohammed Siraj 3/19, Sai Kishore 2/22) lost to Gujarat Titans 170/2 in 17.5 overs (Jos Buttler 73*, Sai Sudharsan 49) by 8 wickets.