Recent Match Report – RCB vs Titans 43rd Match 2022

Gujarat Titans 174 for 4 (Tewatia 43*, Miller 39*, Shahbaz 2-26, Hasaranga 2-28) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 170 for 6 (Kohli 58, Patidar 52, Sangwan 2-19) by six wickets

Not for the first time this season, Rahul Tewatia and David Miller dragged Gujarat Titans out of trouble, giving the table-toppers their eighth win in nine games in the process – it’s the best-ever start by any team in an IPL season. When Titans were 95 for 4, Royal Challengers Bangalore had the momentum, but an unbroken 79-run stand between Tewatia and Miller consigned Faf du Plessis’ men to a third straight defeat.

Tewatia and Miller hit nine fours and three sixes between them in their 40-ball partnership after getting together at the fall of B Sai Sudharsan in the 13th over. Wanindu Hasaranga and Shahbaz Ahmed had rattled the Titans top-order after a half-century opening stand between Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill, and looked, for a while, as though the Titans’ run was coming to a close. Not to be, as Miller and Tewatia punished Mohammed Siraj and Josh Hazlewood in the back end, and sealed the win with three balls in the bag.

That the Titans had to chase a modest target of 171 – despite fifties from Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar – was courtesy left-arm seamer Pradeep Sangwan’s 2 for 19 and Rashid Khan’s 1 for 29. Sangwan, playing his first IPL game since 2018, dismissed du Plessis and the in-form Patidar, while Rashid’s economy returned to his usual standards after he had conceded 45 in his last outing.

Patidar overshadows Kohli

After batting first at the toss, du Plessis could not reap the benefits of his decision when he fell in the second over to a Sangwan delivery angling across his bat that took the edge to the wicketkeeper. It brought in Patidar at No. 3 alongside Kohli and together they were watchful in their rebuilding before three boundaries off their bats in the fourth over opened up the run flow.

The 40 degree Celsius temperatures did not deter Kohli and Patidar from operating with ones and twos when the boundaries were tough, and as both grew it confidence, it was clear that Kohli was going to anchor while Patidar had the license to go for his shots. Patidar hammered Rashid for a six, the duo then crunched Lockie Ferguson for a 15-run over, and after Patidar once again went after Joseph, it became a race for which batter would reach fifty first. Kohli would bring up his first IPL half-century in the 13th over, Patidar his maiden IPL fifty in the next.

An innings that fizzled out

At 110 for 1 after 14 overs, it was time for the set batters to start hitting from both ends. Patidar, however, miscued a scoop to give Sangwan a second wicket at the start of the 15th over, and Kohli was out to a slower-ball yorker from Shami in the 17th before Glenn Maxwell could rev his engine up.

Rashid then picked up Dinesh Karthik, and the revolving door of incoming new batters in that crucial period meant that only one end of batters could attack. A few late hits from Maxwell lifted him to 33, and a cameo of 16 from Mahipal Lomror took Royal Challengers to 170 for 6.

At the end of the game, Kohli’s 53-ball 58 at a strike-rate of under 110 could possibly come under the scanner, but he took upon himself the anchor’s role for the early recovery following du Plessis’ wicket. After that, just when he looked to accelerate after his fifty, he fell, making his total contribution of 58 have a value of only 46.02 Smart Runs.