- RCB beat GT by five wickets to win back-to-back IPL titles.
- The RCB pacers picked up seven wickets to restrict GT to 155.
- Kohli scored an unbeaten 75 to see his team home by five wickets.
Virat Kohli starred for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as RCB beat GT by five wickets and won their second consecutive IPL title. Set a target of 156 to win, Kohli scored an unbeaten 75 to take his team home.
Kohli’s innings followed an excellent performance from their bowling attack. The pace attack combined to pick up seven wickets, while Krunal Pandya chipped in with a very economical spell.
Gujarat Titans 155-8 (Sundar 50*, Salam 3-27, Kumar 2-29) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 161-5 (Kohli 75*, Iyer 32, Rashid 2-25) by five wickets. View the full scorecard here.
Kohli stars in chase as RCB beat GT by 5 wickets
With 156 to chase, Virat Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer got RCB off to a dream start. Iyer scored a quickfire 32 before he was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj. A mini-collapse ensured some nerves in a fairly straightforward chase for the Royal Challengers.
Rashid Khan, in particular, did some damage. The Afghan leg-spinner picked up two wickets, sending Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya packing, in the same over. Kohli, however, stitched together two important partnerships to ensure they got home with two overs to spare.
Kohli was in the zone from the start, going after the GT bowlers, especially Kagiso Rabada, from ball one. He finished with an unbeaten 75 off 42 balls, hitting the winning runs and taking home the Player of the Match award as well.
Clinical RCB bowling sees GT restricted to 155
Earlier, RCB captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and put GT in to bat. His bowlers vindicated his decision early in the game. Some tight bowling from the pacers saw the normally prolific Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan both back in the hut before the end of the powerplay.
Gill mistimed a slightly fuller one from Hazlewood to find Patidar taking a brilliant running catch at the circle. Sudharsan top-edged an attempted pull off Bhuvneshwar Kumar for Jitesh Sharma to take an excellent running catch of his own.
Sharma’s superb day behind the stumps continued as he stumped Jos Buttler off Krunal Pandya’s bowling. Pandya saw Buttler coming down the track to go full and wide. Sharma collected the ball cleanly and whipped the bails off.
A laboured effort from GT in the middle overs before and then some attacking cricket in the death saw GT score 155-8 in their 20 overs. Washington Sundar’s lone effort saw him top score with an unbeaten 50.
For the Royal Challengers, Rasikh Salam was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-27. Kumar and Hazlewood picked up two wickets apiece while Pandya kept it tight for his 1-23 in four overs.
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