Good morning! There are routine Saturday mornings, and then there are weekends when Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) win at home and climb into second place on the points table. This one clearly belongs to the latter category. Here’s your Cricbuzz Pulse—your quick, two-minute sweep of the IPL action.
Key takeaways
- RCB secured a convincing five-wicket win at home in Bengaluru, moving up to second on the table.
- Gujarat Titans posted 205/3 after an opening stand that yielded 128, with Sai Sudharsan striking a 57-ball hundred.
- In the chase, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal powered a second-wicket partnership worth 115 off 59 balls.
- Rasikh Dar’s late injury forced a change in RCB’s death-over bowling plan, with Krunal Pandya stepping in.
- RCB’s finishing overs again stood out, adding 17 wickets in the final five overs this season and striking the most yorkers (25) while conceding just a run per ball off them.
RCB’s home win in Bengaluru
Last night, RCB registered their latest home victory at Chinnaswamy in style, beating Gujarat Titans by five wickets. Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan combined to add 128 runs for the opening partnership, giving GT a strong platform. Sudharsan then completed a hundred off 57 balls, helping the Titans reach 205/3.
However, GT couldn’t translate that momentum into a defendable total once the innings moved into the death overs. On a Bengaluru pitch that Virat Kohli described as the best batting surface of the season, RCB’s batters kept control and ensured the chase stayed on track. GT managed only three fours and three sixes in the final five overs, and that drop-off proved decisive.
RCB’s pursuit was anchored by Devdutt Padikkal and Kohli, who struck fifties and then took the chase forward with a second-wicket stand. The duo put together 115 runs off just 59 deliveries, making the run chase look straightforward. Kohli also finished the job to claim Player of the Match.
Injury twist at the death and the pulse awards
The match also featured a familiar kind of disruption for RCB’s bowling plans. For the second time this season, Rasikh Dar cramped up and threw the team’s late-overs script off track. Earlier, at Wankhede against Mumbai Indians, Romario Shepherd had to complete his over, and the time he spent away from the field meant Rasikh missed out on bowling the final over.
Yesterday brought a near-identical complication. RCB had their yorkers dialled in, with Rasikh set to bowl the 20th over. But after he hobbled away, Krunal Pandya took over instead. Like Shepherd’s over in Mumbai, the over that stood out for the wrong reasons came at the end of the innings—despite most of RCB’s bowling earlier having been tightly executed.
Talking points and standout performers
Talking point: RCB’s earlier struggles at the death have become a distant memory. This season, the final five overs have turned into a genuine strength for them, with 17 wickets in that phase — the best mark in the league. RCB have also bowled the most yorkers in the IPL, firing 25 in total, and have conceded exactly one run per ball off that delivery in the death. Bhuvneshwar bowled at an economy of 8, while Hazlewood’s death-over rate was 9.25.
The pressure also showed in the GT chase. GT slipped from 170/2 after 16 overs to 205 in total, managing only 17 runs across overs 17 to 19, and they went through that stretch without hitting any boundaries.
Pulse awards: The “it’s-not-a-fortress” tag moved from Chinnaswamy to Wankhede, where home advantage currently seems to exist more in theory than practice. The “pick-your-bowler-carefully” award went to Virat Kohli, who kept all four of his sixes exclusively for GT’s overseas bowling options. The “seen-this-ground-before” honour was handed to Devdutt Padikkal for launching the very first ball he faced into the stands, underlining that the venue suits his attacking mindset. Finally, the “thanks-for-not-ruining-Saturday-night” award went to Washington Sundar for taking Kohli’s wicket with the first ball and sparing Chinnaswamy from a wave of collective disappointment.
Who said what, and the stat snack
Who’s saying what: Kohli praised Padikkal for “playing a blinder from ball one” for the second time in the season. Padikkal returned the compliment, saying that his senior partner’s “passion and commitment” rubs off on him.
From the GT side, Gill suggested that GT’s boundary-less stretch between overs 16 and 19 turned out to be “crucial for us,” though he framed it in the context of how RCB’s bowling disrupted their momentum. Gill also joked that Sai Sudharsan—who faced 29 of the 36 balls in the PowerPlay—should “give me a little bit more strike” next time.
Stat snack: Since 2025, Padikkal has been involved in the middle for 558 balls, including deliveries when he was not on strike. Kohli, meanwhile, has been at the other end for 79% of those balls.
What’s next and the evening’s watchlist
What’s the latest gossip? With RCB scheduled to play high-profile matches against MI and KKR in Raipur instead of Bengaluru, reports suggest that flight fares have jumped. There’s also chatter about extending the peripheral ring road further towards central India. The silver lining, though, is that even with the scenic detour for cricket fans and travel plans, the trip home after work may not end up taking any longer.
Tonight’s watchlist: DC will take on PBKS in Delhi first. Later in the evening, RR will meet SRH in Jaipur, with it being the first match of the season at that venue.
Reckless prediction for tonight’s match: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Abhishek Sharma will supposedly turn the RR vs SRH contest into an unofficial audition for opening slots on India’s Ireland tour.
