IPL 2025: Jos Buttler and Mohammed Siraj Help GT Claim Victory over RCB
It was a pleasant evening in Bengaluru and the home team Royal Challengers Bengaluru was being cheered at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium for their match against the Gujarat Titans. When everyone thought the result would go in RCB’s favor, two men from GT came and took the match away.
The veteran Jos Buttler hammered an unbeaten 73 to lead his side to a thumping eight-wicket victory over the crowd favourites RCB, in the IPL match on April 3.
Chasing 170 as their target, the 75-run partnership between Buttler and opener Sai Sudharsan, who hit his classy 49, to achieve the target with 13 balls to spare.
Another player who came and conquered was the ex-RCB loyalist, pace bowler Mohammed Siraj. He was responsible for setting up GT’s consecutive second victory with his outstanding figure of 3 wickets from 19 runs in the four overs, to help restrict Bengaluru to a total of 169 for 8 wickets.
It was RCB’s first defeat of the season after securing two wins, as the Bengaluru crowd left the stadium rather disappointed. For a while they had enjoyed the top position on the points table, but yesterday’s defeat gave Rajat Patidar and his men a real blow.
Mohammed Siraj, playing against his former team RCB for the first time since 2017, was the chief architect of their downfall. With the new ball, he produced a lethal spell, dismissing Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal early before returning in the death overs to claim the big wicket of Liam Livingstone, RCB’s lone warrior with a required half-century.
Ironically, his best figures in Bengaluru (3 for 19) came in his very first match, that too in Gujarat Titans’ jersey. Evidently, the ‘Miyan Magic’ did work for his team. He did show the former team’s management what are they missing this season.
Meanwhile during GT’s innings to chase the total, Buttler never allowed the pressure to mount on himself, as he hit five fours and six sixes. The former England captain’s innings made up for the early wicket that captain Shubman Gill gave away, as he scored an unbeaten explosive 73 runs off 39 balls, showing why is he a modern great.
The star batsman from RCB, Virat Kohli could not build a formidable innings for his home team, and so far, the season performance has also been rather unimpressive.
Other players including RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, and fast bowler Josh Hazlewood, faltered as RCB suffered their first defeat of the season, bringing an end to their two-match winning streak. Despite missing Kagiso Rabada due to personal reasons, Gujarat Titans’ pacers proved a handful for RCB in the powerplay.
The encounter proved to be a rather exciting one, with the experts going in RCB’s favor prior to the match. The on-field strategy by Gill and wonderful efforts by his men gave a dominant victory to them.
RCB will next face Mumbai Indians in a high-octane clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday, April 7, looking to regain the lost win. With two wins in three games, Gujarat Titans will be rather confident when they take on the fiery orange army of Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday, April 6.
By: Tulika Agarwal
