Arshad Khan's three for 22 and a Holder all-round night give Gujarat their revenge in Ahmedabad
Six days after Bengaluru chased down 206 at Chinnaswamy with seven balls in hand, Gujarat Titans got the answer right back. They bowled the defending champions out for 155 in 19.2 overs at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Thursday night, then chased the target down in 15.5 with four wickets in the bank. Jason Holder picked up the Player of the Match award for two wickets, three catches and a useful 12 in the chase. Arshad Khan was the bowler of the night, with three for 22 wrapping the tail.
Kohli flies, then RCB stall
Virat Kohli came in alongside Jacob Bethell at the top and went after Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada in the first three overs, racing to 28 from 13 with five fours before Rabada had him caught by Rashid Khan. Devdutt Padikkal stayed for 40 from 24 before Rashid Khan bowled him through the gate. Rajat Patidar's 19 ended on the catch of the night: Holder running across at deep backward square leg off Arshad Khan, a low diving take that the third umpire ruled clean despite RCB's protests. From there the innings limped, and only Bhuvneshwar Kumar's unbeaten 15 from the lower order kept the total above 150.
Arshad and Holder run the show
Arshad Khan finished with three for 22 in 3.2 overs, picking off Patidar, Krunal Pandya and Venkatesh Iyer for the third, fourth and final wickets of the innings. Holder's bowling card read two for 29 in four overs: Jitesh Sharma caught behind by Jos Buttler and Romario Shepherd holed out to Sai Sudharsan in the deep. The bigger contribution though was the three catches in the field that turned half-chances into outs. Rashid Khan added 4-0-19-2, with Padikkal bowled and Tim David picking out Holder in the deep. By the 16th over the entire RCB top six was back in the hut.
Gill and Buttler put the chase to bed early
Bengaluru's defence was always thin and Shubman Gill made it thinner. Forty-three from 18 balls, four fours and three sixes, the highest score of the innings done before the powerplay was over. He fell to a leading edge that Kohli took off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who finished with three for 28 in a defence that never had enough runs to play with.
Jos Buttler signed in for 39 from 19 with two fours and four sixes before Bhuvneshwar bowled him. Romario Shepherd then did the second-spell job with two in two overs, Washington Sundar lbw and Shahrukh Khan caught by Hazlewood, and for a moment the chase looked a touch uncertain. Rahul Tewatia had other ideas. Walking in as impact substitute, the left-hander made a vital unbeaten cameo, Holder added 12 from 10 before Suyash Sharma found his outside edge, and Rashid Khan finished the night with a boundary in the 16th over.
A points-table reset
It is GT's second win on the trot after their eight-wicket win over CSK at Chepauk on Sunday, and pulls them up to 10 points. RCB drop their third game of the season but stay in the playoff places on 12 points from nine games. The two sides have now split their head-to-head 1-1, and Thursday's chase, finished in the 16th over, has erased the seven-balls-to-spare margin from a week ago.
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