28 April,2024 07:12 AM IST | Ahmedabad | Sunil K Vaidya
Will Jacks celebrates his century and RCB’s win over GT at Ahmedabad yesterday. Pic/AFP
Yet another run feast on a scorching summer afternoon saw Englishman Will Jacks (100 not out, 41 balls, 5x4, 10x6, 243.90 strike rate) guide Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a thumping nine-wicket win over the Gujarat Titans (GT) with four overs to spare here on Sunday.
At every strategic timeout, huge umbrellas were taken out in the field by the respective teams to give respite to their teammates, but the bowlers had no respite from rampaging batsmen who hit 26 sixes at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Against all odds, the main RCB seamer, Mohammed Siraj, produced the ball of the match when his reverse-swung yorker stopped Shahrukh Khan (58, 30 balls, 3x4, 5x6) from running away with a big score.
In a post-match interaction with the media, Siraj concurred that bowlers were helpless in the present conditions. "I would urge bowlers to keep working hard," he advised, and in a lighter vein, he said until then keep getting hit.
In a politically correct answer in Hindi, Siraj said the batting ability was getting to the next level and that was one of the reasons for big totals in every match.
Ironically, it was the RCB batsmen, particularly Jacks, who showed no mercy on the Titans bowlers. The English batsmen's raw hitting left even Virat Kohli (70 not out, 44 balls, 6x4, 3x6) awestruck.
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The duo added 166 for the second wicket in 74 balls even as Jacks hit Mohit Sharma (2-0-41-0) and Rashid Khan (4-0-51-0) for 58 in two overs to hasten RCB's triumph.
Opting to field, RCB took advantage of the damp square to take two early wickets, but Tamil Nadu teammates Sai Sudharsan (84 not out, 49 balls, 8x4, 4x6) and Shahrukh Khan (58, 30 balls, 3x4, 5x6) put GT on a recovery path with a 45-ball third wicket partnership of 86 runs.
"There was some dampness in the wicket at the start and then it eased after about 12-15 overs and remained good for the rest of the match," Sudharsan said in response to a mid-day question.
When asked about his strike rate, Sudharsan said: "I should speed up my scoring rate. I am working on it." He said the team (GT) is in a position now that they need to win all their remaining matches to hope for a place in the playoffs. It is time the IPL looked at the wickets on offer for an even bat-and-ball contest. Otherwise, it will also adversely impact the Indian bowlers eyeing a place in India's T20 World Cup squad.
Brief scores
GT 200-3 in 20 overs (S Sudharsan 84, S Khan 58) lost to RCB 206-1 in 16 overs (W Jacks 100', V Kohli 70') by nine wickets
