After Gujarat Titans secured a win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru, their Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki heaped praise on Player of the Match Jason Holder, highlighting how the West Indies all-rounder’s T20 experience and his all-round skill set have benefited the team. Holder played a major role in the contest, producing three outstanding catches to send back RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, Tim David and Krunal Pandya, while also striking twice in his four overs to finish with figures of 2/29 by dismissing Jitesh Sharma and Romario Shepherd. As the 156-run chase began to wobble when GT were reduced to 111/5, the 30-run partnership between Holder’s side and Rahul Tewatia steadied the innings and ultimately helped Gujarat collect the full two points.
Solanki noted that Holder’s impact has been consistent so far, with 35 runs across two innings at a strike rate of 175.00, along with three wickets at an average of 28.66. He also underlined that the all-rounder has contributed in the field at crucial moments.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Vikram described Holder as a “world-class all-rounder” whose quality only improves with time. “He has sort of proven across the years in international cricket and franchise cricket in the past how measured he is, and I think he is only getting better. He spoke about understanding his game and that, of course, comes with experience. Any player that has played for as long as he has, around the world as he has, led teams as he has, international teams and been part of different teams, starts to get an understanding of what should be done in any given situation, and Jason is certainly doing that,” Solanki said.
The GT official added that the franchise was excited to have Holder in the squad, even though he had to wait for his opportunity. Once his chance arrived, Solanki felt Holder quickly made his presence felt with both bat and ball, crediting his experience and his ability to read situations. “We were very excited when he was part of the squad. He has had to wait his time before he got an opportunity, but since he got an opportunity in all of the games he has played, making good contributions and today in the field. He has been brilliant with the ball, he has fantastic ability with the bat in terms of his ability to strike a cricket ball, but he is also quite smart in playing exactly the way he needs to given any sort of situation, and that partnership with Rahul Tewatia is exactly an example of that,” he continued.
Solanki also pointed to the technical advantages Holder brings due to his physical strength. “He is physically a strong guy, has great reach, leverage as far as the ball is concerned, so all of the technicalities are sort of covered off. He also is now bringing an added dimension, of being a really experienced campaigner and I think that’s what is playing out, that’s what we are seeing in front of us now,” Vikram concluded.
Solanki was equally satisfied with how Gujarat, the champions from 2022, managed to keep a dangerous RCB batting group under control. He was particularly impressed with Rashid Khan, who produced a standout four-over spell of 2/19. The performance lifted Rashid’s wicket tally to 10 scalps in nine matches, at an average of 27.40, with best figures of 3/17.
“This (dominance against RCB batting) speaks volumes about actually a little bit of character and resilience as far as the group is concerned, especially when they (RCB) came out quite aggressively, as we expected them to. So for the guys to hold that and then the ability to take wickets and try and put the opposition under pressure, they played that very well, I thought. After which, Rashid had a great game. He was superb, so it IS great to see him being the Rashid Khan that we all know and love and showing the sort of energy that he brings to this group,” Solanki said.
While celebrating the result, the GT Director of Cricket admitted the chase was not flawless and that the team didn’t have a perfectly controlled game. “As far as chase is concerned, we leave it upto batters to make good decisions, and I thought they played some pleasing shots by being aggressive in the powerplay. Was it the perfect game that we played? No, we did not play the perfect game, but you rarely do. We will just take a lot of confidence, as we should, from the win,” he signed off.
Match report
Turning to the match itself, Gujarat Titans chose to bowl first. Virat Kohli, scoring 28 off 13 balls with five fours, gave RCB a confident start, hitting five straight boundaries against Kagiso Rabada who finished with 1/44. However, RCB’s momentum was repeatedly checked as Arshad Khan (3/22), Rashid Khan (2/19) and Jason Holder (2/29) combined to keep taking wickets at regular intervals. Devdutt Padikkal top-scored for RCB with 40 off 24 balls, including five fours and two sixes, but RCB were bowled out for 155 in 19.2 overs.
In reply, quick contributions from Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler helped Gujarat get their chase moving. Gill made 43 off 18 balls, striking four boundaries and three maximums, while Buttler scored 39 off 19 balls with two fours and four sixes. Despite that start, Gujarat lost their three top-order batters when the score moved to 92, and the innings slipped to 111/5. Rahul Tewatia then steadied the chase with 27 not out from 17 balls, finishing the job and taking GT to fifth place in the table with their fifth victory of the season in nine matches.
RCB, meanwhile, remained in second position after suffering their third defeat in nine matches.
