Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans by five wickets to get back to winning ways in the IPL in Bengaluru on Friday.
Virat Kohli’s 44-ball 81 (8×4, 4×6) and Devdutt Padikkal’s lightning-fast 27-ball 55 (2×4, 6×6) helped RCB overhaul the tough 206-run mark in 18.5 overs. Washington Sundar dropped Kohli on zero, which proved costly for GT.
It was a lopsided chase as the two combined for 115 runs off 59 balls for the third wicket. After RCB decided to bowl, Gujarat Titans scored 205/3 thanks to opener Sai Sudharsan’s return to form with a 58-ball 100, his third IPL century.
Sudharsan, the Orange Cap winner from the previous season with 759 runs, got into his swing and blasted 11 fours and five sixes during GT’s 128-run opening partnership.
Shubman Gill, the captain, scored a modest 32 from 24 balls. Jason Holder (23 not out; 10 balls), making his GT debut, bolstered the total with two sixes and one four in the last over.
The key to GT’s batting performance that defied convention was Sudharsan’s 58-ball knock, his third hundred in the IPL. From the beginning, the left-hander completely controlled the 128-run partnership with his opening partner and captain Shubman Gill (32, 24b), as Sudharsan used 29 balls in the Power Play phase to the latter’s seven.
The 24-year-old hitter from Tamil Nadu, who also became the fastest to reach 2,000 IPL runs in an innings, scored 46 runs during Power Play before hitting Romario Shepherd for a six to reach fifty off 33 balls.
He negated RCB’s spin combo of Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma during the next fifty runs, which came at a faster pace of 24 balls.
Sudharsan was equal to the task, uppercutting it over backward point for a six despite Krunal’s attempt to silence him with his signature bouncer. He then hit a boundary and a sweeping six off the same bowler, forcing RCB captain Rajat Patidar to consider his options.
Gill’s removal did not significantly change the outcome of the match because Sudharsan silently bled the RCB bowling after being dropped by Suyash on 91. With a single off Suyash, Sudharsan reached his hundred, but he was unable to build on it and gave Josh Hazlewood a relatively meek return catch.
He was dismissed with an individual score of 100, which is exactly what they scored in their 99-run thrashing of the Mumbai Indians a few days ago. However, his exit caused RCB to retreat a little in the final overs.
