At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, April 2, GT defeated RCB by an eight-wicket margin in Match 14 of the current IPL. The aforementioned margin represented GT’s second-largest chasing victory.
In the end, GT dominated the chase. By no means was it a perfect Chinnaswamy track. To cross the finish line with 13 deliveries remaining, the tourists, however, took better advantage of their batsmanship and lost fewer wickets. This was RCB’s first IPL 2025 defeat.
Talking Points
1. Liam Livingstone finally gets his chance
Prior to the game, Liam Livingstone was going through a terrible period of weakness. It was not exclusive to the Indian Premier League. In white-ball cricket, he hadn’t reached a half-century in almost nine innings. But he made the most of his time at the crease by taking advantage of his somewhat quiet start with the bat. Rashid Khan’s last over, in which he hit three enormous maximums off the leg-spinner, was the high point of his 54-run performance.
2. Mohammed Siraj‘s brilliant show lights up the previous home venue.
After seven arduous seasons with the team, Mohammed Siraj was playing against RCB for the first time at the Chinnaswamy. He sprinted through Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal without displaying any indications of nervousness. In addition to dismissing Livingstone in the penultimate over of the innings, Siraj finished with stats of 3/19 in four overs, having given up just four runs.
3. Once more, Jos Buttler’s blade slashes through RCB
In the fifth over, captain Shubman Gill was replaced in the middle by Jos Buttler, who came out to bat. To get his first boundary, he had to take nine deliveries. But after that, the wicketkeeper-batter completely dominated. Five fours and six sixes were part of his daring 39-ball 73-run knock. He became just the third hitter in the IPL to score more than 500 runs against an IPL opponent at a strike rate of more than 150 and an average of more than 50.
Who Said What?
Mohammed Siraj, Player of the Match
I was a bit emotional. I was here for 7 years, changed jersery from red to blue and was emotional but once I got the ball I was fine. I am Ronaldo’s fan and hence the celebration. I had been playing consistently, but during the break I corrected my mistakes and worked on my fitness. Once I was picked up by Gujarat Titans, I spoke to Ashish bhai. He (Nehra) tells me to go enjoy your bowling and Ishu (Ishant) bhai tells me what line and length to bowl. My mindset is to have belief and then the pitch does not matter.
Shubman Gill, GT captain
We have seen on this ground; restricting them to 170 (169) was a good effort. The wicket has something in it sometimes; you can score 250 as well as get early wickets, there was something for the fast bowlers in the first 7-8 overs and we knew if we pick early wickets, then we are in the game. You are disapointed but you need to keep coming back, grab the next opportunity. We batted professionally considering the wicket. It is all about adapting to the situation and play according to that.
Rajat Patidar, RCB captain
Not 200, we were targeting around 190 after the powerplay, but losing early wickets harmed this match. I think the intent was good, but we shouldn’t have lost as many as 3 wickets in the PP, it was one wicket too many. The conditions did get better, the bowlers were amazing trying to defend this total, to take this chase into the 18th over was amazing to watch. The way Jitesh, Liam Livingstone, and Tim David, the way they batted, it was a positive for us. We’re confident about the batting line-up, they’re showing some positive intent which is very good for us.
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