Royal Challengers Bengaluru pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar believes he has reached a point in his IPL journey where collective success matters more than personal achievements. The 36-year-old, who is currently the leading wicket-taker in the competition, returned figures of 3 for 28 during RCB’s four-wicket defeat to Gujarat Titans, marking his fifth three-wicket haul of the season and moving him to the top of the bowling standings.
The outing also brought him the Purple Cap, but Bhuvneshwar was quick to play down what that means for him. In his view, the priorities that come with experience have shifted—team outcomes now sit above individual landmarks.
“It’s good that I got the Purple Cap. But I think I have come out of that time where I want to achieve something individually,” Bhuvneshwar said at the post-match press conference.
“Of course, I want to achieve something, but now it’s more of a team. I’m not young anymore. Of course, when you’re young, you want to win those awards, and it comes when you do well.”
He added that even when individual recognition follows good work, the mindset is geared towards contributing to the group’s objectives. “But when you want to work towards the team’s goal, and you get an individual award or reward, you feel good. But honestly, I’m just trying my best. Getting confidence from the management. That’s all I can say,” he said.
Batting first, RCB suffered an unusual collapse and were dismissed for 155. Bhuvneshwar acknowledged that such totals are increasingly difficult to defend in a tournament where chases dominate match narratives.
He said that chasing has become more manageable across grounds this season. “If you look at this IPL, chasing is a bit easier in any ground because the way wicket behaves and dew comes. So, yes, it could be different.”
He also pointed to the match context and the team’s inability to turn their bowling effort into a win. “But yeah, we didn’t win the toss. We were asked to bat first. We tried our best in bowling. So now the result is that we lost. That’s all.”
Explaining RCB’s approach while defending, Bhuvneshwar said the plan was to be aggressive—taking wickets—rather than focusing solely on containing runs.
“If you look at the scenario, there was some help for seamers, and we had Romario (Shepherd), third seamer. So, we wanted to take a chance.”
He further explained the thinking around Suyash Sharma, suggesting that the risk of allowing him to settle was part of the equation. “And Suyash (Sharma) is someone who is not easy to pick. So, we wanted to get wickets as quick as possible. So, that’s the reason he didn’t bowl.”
Bhuvneshwar concluded that defending the total wasn’t the likely route to victory. “We couldn’t have won the match by defending runs. We could have won by taking wickets, and the bowlers who bowled were the best bowlers to get those wickets,” he added.
He also admitted that the RCB batting unit—featuring Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David and captain Rajat Patidar—had a rough day with the bat.
“Look it’s a long tournament 14 matches. You cannot be perfect in each and every match in any department the way we have batted in the whole tournament it’s been good we have scored 200 we have scored more than 200,” Bhuvneshwar said.
He stressed that the team’s broader season output has been strong, and that an occasional off-game is part of a long campaign. “I think it’s about complementing each other yes we were not up to the mark with the bat it happens. I mean sometimes we give 200 runs but batsmen never complains they go and chase it out so it was our duty to try our best and then we did what we could.”
For Gujarat Titans, West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder played a key role in the win. He finished with 2/29 and also took three catches, while contributing 12 runs to help seal the result. His all-round impact earned him the player of the match award.
Gujarat Titans’ Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki spoke about Holder’s value in the auction, highlighting the ability to contribute in both departments. “When we were pursuing Jason at the auction, it was with the mind to him being able to fulfil both roles — the bat and the ball. So he does offer us exactly that.”
Solanki also pointed to Holder’s recent form, particularly his batting contributions in the middle overs. “His numbers, if you take a look over the last sort of calendar year and perhaps a little bit longer than that, his numbers at five and six have been quite outstanding.”
He attributed that production to Holder’s physical and technical toolkit. “And that has come about because he, of course, has all of the ability that you need. Physically, a strong guy, has great reach, leverage as far as the bat is concerned, so all the technicalities are covered off,” he added.
