Bengaluru: A sensational bowling performance from Mohammed Siraj (3 wickets for 19 runs) and a brilliant fifty from Jos Buttler powered Gujarat Titans (GT) to comfortable 8-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, on Wednesday, March 2.

Gujarat Titans secured their second-biggest chase in terms of wickets remaining, following their nine-wicket victory over Rajasthan in Jaipur in 2023. Interestingly, all six encounters between GT and RCB have been won by the chasing team, with both teams winning three games each.

Chasing a modest 170-run target, GT openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan approached the tricky new-ball phase cautiously, avoiding unnecessary risks.

The first breakthrough for RCB came in the fifth over, but by then, the Titans had already laid a solid foundation.Following the early dismissal, Sudharsan and Jos Buttler kept the chase on track, regularly finding boundaries after the powerplay to keep the required run rate in check.

RCB turned to Josh Hazlewood for a breakthrough, and he succeeded in breaking a 75-run partnership. However, that was the only real moment of resistance, as Buttler and Sherfane Rutherford calmly steered GT to victory.

Earlier, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma and Tim David played handy knocks to lead the revival of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, as the hosts posted 169/8 in their 20 overs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.

With grass covering around the good length area on a pitch which wasn’t used for last season, it meant the ball seamed nicely for the GT fast bowlers, who exploited it to great effect by hitting the good and back of the length regions and reduce RCB to 42/4. Jitesh began RCB’s comeback charge by hitting a quick 33 before Livingstone brought out his muscular hits to smash 54 off 40 balls and David unfurled his big-hitting shots to make an 18-ball 32. For GT, Mohammed Siraj was impressive on his return to the Chinnaswamy by picking 3-19 while R Sai Kishore continued his good show by bagging 2-22.

The start was eventful for GT as Virat Kohli brought out a majestic cover drive off Mohammed Siraj for four and was followed by Phil Salt being dropped by Jos Buttler in the opening over. But Arshad Khan brought the smiles back on the GT camp by cramping Kohli on the pull and having him caught at deep square leg.

Bengaluru boy Devdutt Padikkal creamed a cover drive on first ball off Siraj for a four. But the pacer had the last laugh as he got one to nip in and sneak past Padikkal to hit top of off-stump.