Fab du Plessis

PTI

Bengaluru, May 4

Royal Challengers Bengaluru pressed the panic button halfway but a blazing fifty by captain Faf du Plessis had carried them to a four-wicket over Gujarat Titans in their IPL match here today.

Brief scores

• GT: 147 all out in 19.3 overs (Shahrukh 37, Tewatia 35, Miller 30; Dayal 2/21, Vyshak 2/23, Siraj 2/29) vs RCB: 152/6 in 13.4 overs (du Plessis 64, Kohli 42; Little 4/45)

Friday’s result

• KKR: 169 all out in 19.5 overs (Iyer 70, Pandey 42; Bumrah 3/18, Thushara 3/42) vs MI: 145 all out in 18.5 overs (Suryakumar 56; Starc 4/33, Chakravarthy (2/22), Narine(2/22)

Du Plessis (64 off 23 balls) and Virat Kohli (42 off 27), who added 92 runs in just 35 balls for the opening wicket, were in fine fettle as RCB moved past a target of 148 after braving some nervy moments.

The win lifted RCB to seventh place on the table with eight points from 11 matches, and kept their mathematical chances of making it to the playoffs alive.

Du Plessis and Kohli dealt in boundaries as the home side racked 92 runs in the powerplay, which contained 10 fours and seven sixes.

Mayank’s stint meets tame end

Lucknow: Pace sensation Mayank Yadav has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL after sustaining a lower abdominal tear, Lucknow Super Giants head coach Justin Langer confirmed today. That the 21-year-old Delhi man would be out of this IPL with a Grade 1 tear (side strain) was first reported on May 1 along with the news of his induction into BCCI’s pace bowling contract list. Asked about Mayank’s fitness status, Langer said: “No, we’ll be praying that he can play, hopefully, in the playoffs, but I am a realist as well. It’ll probably be difficult.” PTI

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I was actually sick since last night and wasn't going to play at all today, so this is great. When I got up this morning I thought it was better to rest but the Almighty made me play. Mohammed Siraj, player of the match

Both were hard on GT's bowlers, as Kohli began the butchering with two sixes off pacer Mohit Sharma in the first over. Du Plessis was in no mood to play the role of a sidekick as he waded into left-arm pacer Josh Little with a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 4 in the second over that produced a total of 20 runs.

GT introduced IPL debutant left-arm spinner Manav Suthar in the hope of containing Kohli at least, but the ploy was failed spectacularly.

The RCB talisman showed his increasing comfort against spin, clobbering Suthar for two successive sixes. Du Plessis reserved some fireworks for Mohit, whom he carted around for four fours in the fifth over, as the South African reached fifty in just 18 balls before falling to Little.

RCB entered a phase of struggle from thereon, losing Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green between the sixth and 10th overs for just 20 runs.

Little (4/45) and spinner Noor Ahmad (2/23) were the chief perpetrators as RCB slipped from 92/1 to 112/5.

Ahmad soon ousted Kohli as RCB were 117/6 but Dinesh Karthik (21 not out off 12) kept his nerve under pressure as RCB notched their fourth and third win in a row.

Before the RCB batsmen joined the party, their bowlers came up with an immaculate effort on a supportive pitch to restrict GT to 147.

GT managed just two fours in the powerplay, with Mohammed Siraj (2/29), Yash Dayal (2/21) and Vijaykumar Vyshak (2/23) sticking to a wonderful length.

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