Virat Kohli again proved why he’s regarded as one of the most dependable finishers in the IPL, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday. Chasing a target of 206, Kohli played a match-winning innings of 81 off 44 balls to guide RCB home with five wickets and seven balls to spare. Still, the Titans would argue the contest swung early—an awkward missed chance in the opening over helped Kohli stay in the game.
How the chase unfolded
- Kohli’s innings got RCB’s chase moving after Bengaluru chased down 206 successfully.
- He struck 81 runs off 44 deliveries, finding the boundary 8 times with fours and clearing the ropes 4 times with sixes.
- RCB ultimately reached the winning mark with five wickets in hand and seven balls remaining.
The key talking point came in the very first over of the contest. Gujarat Titans had an opportunity to dismiss Kohli for a duck, but Washington Sundar failed to hold a chance off Mohammed Siraj. The drop was caught in the moment—Siraj sent down a good-length ball that landed on the pads, and Kohli flicked it straight towards Sundar at mid-wicket. However, the ball just slipped away, and Sundar’s difficulty at that stage allowed Kohli to go on and build his innings into a commanding one.
Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop felt the incident was unfortunate but also underlined that catch-dropping happens to everyone. He nevertheless urged Sundar to raise his standards in the field, noting that repeated lapses can cost teams in a tournament where pressure moments decide matches.
“No, I see that differently. We have all dropped catches. You don’t pick and choose which ones you drop. But what I would ask Washy is that your level of fielding has got to go up. He’s a young guy, athletic enough,” Bishop said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut.
He added that the missed chance wasn’t an isolated concern and encouraged Sundar to invest more work on his catching and overall fielding contributions. “For too long, I have been seeing missed opportunities with him. So I would ask him to put a little more work in that so he becomes an asset in the field in addition to all the other things,” Bishop further remarked.
Dale Steyn also backed Bishop’s stance, agreeing that a batter of Kohli’s calibre cannot be let off the hook—especially when the chance is straightforward. The former South Africa speedster stressed that the dismissal should have been taken regardless of who was at the other end.
“Can’t drop Kohli. The guy who’s gonna be one of the best chasers in the world. That catch, actually, doesn’t matter who it is; you just can’t drop that. That’s ten out of ten times, you should be taking that,” Steyn said.
After Kohli’s near-miss early on turned into a decisive innings, RCB made the Titans pay for the early mistake. With the win, Bengaluru moved up to the second spot in the standings, while Gujarat Titans—led by Shubman Gill—remained in seventh place.
