Rahul Tewatia and David Miller put on a fantastic partnership as Gujarat Titans defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in their Indian Premier League 2022 clash at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday.
Opting to bat first, RCB finished with 170/6 in their 20 overs with Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar scoring half centuries. In reply, Gujarat Titans were in trouble at 95/4 after 13 overs but Tewatia and Miller put on an unbeaten partnership of 79 runs for the sixth wicket to take their team home.
Openers Shubman Gill (31 off 28) and Wriddhiman Saha (29 off 22) gave GT a steady start in the chase but neither player could go on and make a big one. Hardik Pandya was then dismissed for three by Shahbaz Ahmed in what was a fine spell by the left-arm spinner.
Sai Sudharsan (20 off 14), in at No 3, played a cameo but he was dismissed by Wanindu Hasaranga (2/28) in the 13th over.
Gujarat needed 76 runs from 42 balls at that stage and Bangalore had the momentum. But that’s when Tewatia (43* off 25) and Miller (39* off 24) got together at the crease to take control of proceedings. The two left-handers paced their partnership smartly and got the big hit when needed to help Gujarat register their eighth victory in nine matches.
| Team | Pld | Won | Lost | Net RR | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GT | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0.377 | 16 |
| RR | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0.561 | 12 |
| LSG | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0.408 | 12 |
| SRH | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0.600 | 10 |
| RCB | 10 | 5 | 5 | -0.558 | 10 |
| DC | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0.695 | 8 |
| PBKS | 9 | 4 | 5 | -0.470 | 8 |
| KKR | 9 | 3 | 6 | -0.006 | 6 |
| CSK | 8 | 2 | 6 | -0.538 | 4 |
| MI | 8 | 0 | 8 | -1.000 | 0 |
Earlier, Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat and said he didn’t want his players to get “cooked” on the field in the afternoon heat by bowling first. Hardik Pandya, too, said he would have preferred to bat first.
The RCB captain, however, didn’t last for long at the crease and was dismissed by Pradeep Sangwan (2/19) in the second over of the match. But the Royal Challengers then had their biggest partnership as Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar added 99 runs for the second wicket.
Patidar was the aggressor in the partnership and played some cracking strokes to finish with a 32-ball 52. Kohli, on the other hand, had registered two golden ducks in his last three innings and needed runs to gain confidence.
The former India and RCB skipper ended up scoring a 58 off 53 but struggled to find fluency and up the ante. He hit six fours and a six in his knock, ran hard between the wickets, got a reprieve with Rashid Khan dropping a return catch, but could never really accelerate to help his team’s cause.
Glenn Maxwell (33 off 180 and Mahipal Lomror (16 off 8) provided much-needed cameos down the order but they weren’t enough at the end.
Watch highlights of the match here.
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