Pacer Mohammed Siraj hurts his former team Royal Challengers Bengaluru with 3-19 to set up comfortable eight-wicket victory for Gujarat Titans; Jos Buttler top-scores for GT with unbeaten 73 off just 39 balls (5x4, 6x6)
Gujarat Titans pacer Mohammed Siraj celebrates the dismissal of RCB’s Devdutt Padikkal in Bangalore yesterday. Pic/PTI
The Prodigal Son returned to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in grand fashion, masterminding Gujarat Titans’ commanding eight-wicket win over his old franchise, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, on Wednesday night. It was RCB’s first loss of the competition and the second win in three outings for the Titans.
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Mohammed Siraj had spent seven years with the Bengaluru franchise before being let go ahead of last November’s mega auction. Snapped up by the 2022 champions for a staggering Rs 12.25 crore, the out-of-favour India pacer made a telling statement on a surface that, in a break from norm, offered the faster bouncers plenty by way of seam movement and bounce.
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Player of the Match Siraj (3-19) was exceptional in a three-over opening spell and came back to close out the innings expertly after Shubman Gill had opted to bat, making the most of his familiarity with the venue. Helped in the cause by local lad Prasidh Krishna, who turned in a second successive tidy burst, the two quicks helped the Titans restrict a formidable RCB batting unit to 169 for eight, which was a huge recovery given that they were gasping at 42 for four after 6.2 overs.
Liam Livingstone was the beneficiary of the Titans’ largesse — Gill’s boys had a forgettable day in the field — as he was dropped twice and survived a stumping. Making the most it, he lashed all his five sixes off Rashid Khan on his way to a 40-ball 54. Coupled with Jitesh Sharma’s fluent 33 and a late flourish from Tim David, RCB amassed 64 runs in the last five overs.
There were few alarms when the Titans kicked off their chase through Gill and the in-form Sai Sudharsan. Having seen his Tamil Nadu teammate Sai Kishore turn in a grand exhibition of left-arm spin bowling earlier in the evening, Sudharsan kept the chase going despite Gill’s reasonably early departure to an athletic catch from Livingstone.
No. 3 Jos Buttler then came into his own with a bruising effort, 39-ball 73 not out.
Brief scores
RCB 169-8 in 20 overs (L Livigstone 54, J Sharma 33, T David 32; M Siraj 3-19, S Kishore 2-22) lost to GT 170-2 in 17.5 overs (J Buttler 73*, S Sudharsan 49, S Rutherford 30*; B Kumar 1-23) by 8 wkts
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