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Rampant Kohli leads RCB to victory over Gujarat Titans

cricket24 April 2026 18:01| © MWP
By:Neil Manthorp
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The imperious Virat Kohli led the way for the Royal Challengers Bangalore as they chased down Gujarat Titans’ total of 205-3 with ridiculous ease to win their Tata IPL match by five wickets with seven balls to spare at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday evening

Thirty-seven-year-old Kohli was as good as ever during his 81 from just 44 balls with eight fours and four sixes while Devdutt Padikkal all-but sealed the victory with an even faster 55 from 27 balls with two fours and half a dozen sixes which allowed big-hitter Tim David to coast over the finish line with 10* from nine balls.

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It was a particularly galling defeat for Gujarat opener Sai Sudharsan who reached his third IPL century from just 57 balls before splicing a hook shot back to bowler Josh Hazlewood to depart for 100 from 58 balls with 11 fours and five sixes.

Gujarat were poised for a total of at least 200 at the halfway stage but captain Shubman Gill (32 from 24 balls) and Jos Buttler (25 from 16) were unable to capitalise on fast starts leaving former West Indian captain Jason Holder to push the total over 200 with two sixes in the final over in his 23* from 10 balls.

As always, the figures for the bowlers who made the difference did not reflect their importance to the result.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-31-1) and Hazlewood (4-0-40-1) were outstanding in the closing overs to restrict the visitors to an inadequate total.

The result may have been very different had Washington Sundar not dropped a straightforward catch at short midwicket before Kohli had scored with Mohammed Siraj (3-0-25-1) the unlucky bowler.

Kagiso Rabada bowled better than his analysis of 4-0-45-0 might suggest, but it was a bruising evening for the great Rashid Khan whose two wickets cost 49 runs in his four overs.

Kohli was in the mood to finish the game himself before bottom-edging a hook against Holder onto his stumps – to his fury – but the reigning champions remain well on course for the playoffs and a chance to defend their title.

The result moves RCB up to second on the log with five wins and ten points from their seven matches while Gujarat remain in seventh place with three wins and six points from their seven matches.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Jitesh Sharma (wkt), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar

Impact subs: Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Venkatesh Iyer

Gujarat Titans: Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (captain), Jos Buttler (wkt), Washington Sundar, Shahrukh Khan, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Manav Suthar, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj

Impact subs: Prasidh Krishna, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Nishant Sindhu, Arshad Khan

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