RCB is now in second place

Apr 24, 2026, 4:07 PM

A brief farewell at the Chinnaswamy

With three victories in four games in IPL 2026, the reigning champions have given the home crowd enough to enjoy, in contrast to last year when Royal Challengers Bengaluru struggled at the Chinnaswamy. They will aim to make it four against five when they play Gujarat Titans later in the day in their final league stage match at the Chinnaswamy.

For the second wicket, Kohli and Padikkal put up a strong fight

After that, RCB plays a few of away games before moving to Raipur, their second home. Naturally, the Chinnaswamy will host two playoff games, including the championship game. RCB will be hoping that today's match won't be their final home game of the season.

Gujarat Titans, whose middle-order weaknesses were exposed in their most recent match against Mumbai Indians, will face them. Against an explosive RCB team with a strong bowling attack of their own, they will be searching for answers.

When these two teams last faced off here, Mohammed Siraj's outstanding new-ball bowling stint completely destroyed his old squad. Overall, we should be in for a fantastic game.

Apr 24, 2026, 4:59 PM

Focus on the middle order of the Gujarat Titans

Since the previous season, the Gujarat Titans have had an incredibly dependable top order. Their top three players have contributed 69% of their runs in the 2026 Indian Premier League, the highest percentage of any side. But what happens if you get past Jos Buttler, B Sai Sudharsan, and Shubman Gill?

The lowest percentage of runs in the league, 29%, have come from their middle order (Nos. 4–8).

GT collapsed when the Mumbai Indians tore through their top order. RCB will be aware that defeating GT will depend on this. How is GT going to adjust? Or will they continue using the model that has worked for them?

Apr 24, 2026, 5:51 PM

Being Tim David

"I try to enjoy training because I play cricket for ten or eleven months of the year and am frequently away from home. The coaches have to kick me out of the nets because I've been working harder than ever. You can put a lot of pressure on yourself while you play, which is why I find it enjoyable. I can either strive my hardest or suffer from anxiety for eleven months of the year.

This passage is taken from Ashish Pant's article about Tim David.

Apr 24, 2026, 6:50 PM

500 for Buttler

Jos Buttler will play in his 500th Twenty20 match. There are just nine other people who have played that many.

Apr 24, 2026, 7:01 PM

RCB decides to bowl and substitutes injured Salt with Bethell

When playing Gujarat Titans, Royal Challengers Bengaluru decided to bowl.

Rajat Patidar, the captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), chose to bowl first against Gujarat Titans (GT) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium after winning the toss. According to Patidar, it would help them understand the pitch, which was devoid of grass.

Due to an injury, RCB had to make a change: Jacob Bethell took Phil Salt's position. Bethell would only enter the game as an Impact Player in the second innings and was not included in the bowl-first XI.

GT made two adjustments. They substituted Manav Suthar for Ashok Sharma and Jason Holder for Glenn Phillips. Holder's first GT game is this one.

Both square limits are 61 metres, and the game is being played on the central pitch. The straight line is 74 metres long.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Rajat Patidar (capt), 4 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 5 Tim David, 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Josh Hazlewood, 10 Suyash Sharma, 11 Rasikh Dar

Impact Player options: Jacob Bethell, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Venkatesh Iyer

Gujarat Titans: 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Jos Buttler (wk), 4 Washington Sundar, 5 Jason Holder, 6 Shahrukh Khan, 7 Rahul Tewatia, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Manav Suthar, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Impact Player options: Prasidh Krishna, Anuj Rawat, Glenn Phillips, Nishant Sindhu, Arshad Khan

Apr 24, 2026, 7:37 PM

Bhuvneshwar's early movement

When Bhuvneshwar Kumar receives the ball, it moves past Sai Sudharsan and into Shubman Gill. Fortunately, Sudharsan's thick outside edge gets past the short-third defender for a four.

Josh Hazlewood, on the other end, beats Sudharsan's outside edge a few times after striking him on the pads with his opening ball. Sudharsan appeared to be late on the shoot at times.

GT 11/0 following two

Apr 24, 2026, 7:43 PM

Sudharsan takes action

Sudharsan establishes another boundary through the short-third area when the early movement disappears. It was a purposeful steer this time. He hammers another four past covers later in the over before leaping out of his crease, only to push the ball back in the bowler's direction.

Hazlewood is replaced at the opposite end by Rasikh Salam, although he lacks length and line. After pulling him, Sudharsan slices him for fours on consecutive deliveries.

GT 31/0 following four

Apr 24, 2026, 7:51 PM

The innings' first six

4 0 0 6 0 4

Thanks to Sudharsan, we now have the first six of the innings after 4.4 overs. He slices the seamer over cover-point for a six after scooping Hazlewood past the diving keeper for a four. He backs off and slashes the ball behind point for another boundary to end the over.

Gill has just faced three deliveries, while he has advanced to 41 off 27 balls.

GT 45/0 following five

Apr 24, 2026, 7:56 PM

In powerplay, GT 57/0

Gill and GT are probably aware that 180–190 could not be sufficient tonight. Gill therefore wants to maximise the powerplay's last over. He slogs the slower ball down the ground for four after charging down the pitch to Rasikh. Although it's not visually appealing, the scorecard shows four runs.

In order to guarantee that GT ends the powerplay on 57 with no loss, Sudharsan scores one more four in the over.

Apr 24, 2026, 7:58 PM

Krunal's collection of tricks

Patidar visits Krunal Pandya as soon as the fielding limitations are lifted. As he does with all left-hand batsmen these days, he bowled around the wicket to Sudharsan. He bowls a bouncer, goes round-arm, and beats the outside edge with a delivery speed of 113.2 kph.

He only managed four singles in his over.

GT 61/0 following seven

Apr 24, 2026, 8:01 PM

For Sudharsan, fifty

Sudharsan is ensuring that GT doesn't become trapped. He raises his fifty off thirty-three balls by scooping Romario Shepherd over fine leg for a six. Covers are used to send out the following delivery. Gill uses his signature pull on the penultimate ball of the over, making it a 17-run over. It is undoubtedly the innings' most costly over.

GT 78/0 for eight

Apr 24, 2026, 8:09 PM

Krunal is uppercut by Sudharsan for a six

When was the last time you witnessed someone uppercut a spinner, especially for a six? In a Test match, I recall Sachin Tendulkar (happy birthday!) uppercutting a Shane Warne ball for a four. Krunal was struck for a six over deep third by Sudharsan.

He takes a more conventional approach and slog-sweeps the spinner for an additional six off the final ball of the over. He now has 2000 runs in the IPL as a result. He eclipsed Gayle's record by one inning and reached the mark in 47 innings, making him the fastest to the mark.

Fastest to 2000 runs in the IPL (by innings):

47 - B Sai Sudharsan
48 - Chris Gayle
52 - Shaun Marsh
57 - Ruturaj Gaikwad
60 - KL Rahul

Apr 24, 2026, 8:20 PM

"Slightly slow and two-paced"

This is Parthiv Patel, the assistant coach for GT, on the field:

"Accessing it is a little challenging. We felt that the wicket was a little bit slower and a little bit two-paced. Thus, I believe our hitters have performed admirably. It's good that our set hitters bat through since it's not the easiest wicket to bat on."

After 12 overs, GT is already at 121 for 0. Gill is on 32 off 23 while Sudharsan is on 85 off 49.

Apr 24, 2026, 8:30 PM

After Suyash is injured, Gill

After hitting a six over wide long-off to begin Suyash's 13th over, Sudharsan smashes one back at the bowler. Suyash makes an effort at the catch, but he is unable to react in time and injures a finger on his left hand. He is wincing in pain, but fortunately it's not his bowling hand. The physiotherapist is going to take a look.

After receiving some therapy, he gets rid of Gill and resumes his over. Gill tries to force it over long-on, but he is unable to get past Padikkal since it is a googly.

Sudharsan is joined in the middle by Buttler, who is playing his 500th T20. Suyash greets him with a slip and makes a mistake initially. Buttler receives two leg-byes when it's on the pads.

GT 131/1 after 13

Apr 24, 2026, 8:40 PM

Sudharsan raises a hundred

He took 57 balls to complete the task, which is slow, particularly in the Impact Player era. GT is still scoring at a pace of 10.33 per over, though. With a four and a six from Suyash in the fifteenth over, Buttler is now at 17 off nine.

GT 155/1 following 15

Apr 24, 2026, 8:48 PM

100 and out for Sudharsan

4 1 W 0 6 4

Hazlewood comes back and gives Sudharsan a hard length. The batter attempts a pull, but he misses the shot and ends up making a return catch. There is no late acceleration since he walks back for 100 off 58. However, Washington Sundar begins with a four and a six.

GT 170/2 after 17

Apr 24, 2026, 8:58 PM

GT falters following Sudharsan

After bowling a four-run 17th over, Suyash leaves the field, most likely to need medical attention for a blow to his hand earlier in the game.

Bhuvneshwar provides a five-run over to support it. In addition, Buttler is eliminated when he reverse-scoops a low full toss to short third. The new batter is Holder.

GT 179/3 following 18

Apr 24, 2026, 8:59 PM

Rasikh leaves the field

GT is hoping for the last touch, but it doesn't appear to be arriving. In the 19th over, Hazlewood concedes just eight runs. Rasikh enters the game to bowl the twentieth, but he slows down and lies on the ground as he rushes in to bowl his first ball. It appears to be cramps. Rasikh has to leave the field after the physiotherapist spends a lot of time trying to help, but nothing seems to be working.

Apr 24, 2026, 9:08 PM

GT finish on 205/3

The 20th over is bowled by Krunal, who begins with a low trajectory delivery that Holder hits over deep midwicket for a six. Holder doesn't offer a shot on the subsequent wide yorker. However, Krunal freezes as he rushes in to bowl his third ball. His groyne is having some problems. Krunal is prepared to return after receiving therapy from the physiotherapist once more.

On the stumps, the third ball is full. Holder reaches for the ball with his long levers and smacks it over deep midwicket for another six. Padikkal misfields at long-off on the fourth ball, giving up a boundary. 18 comes from the over in total. GT have only scored 17 out of the last three.

Apr 24, 2026, 9:33 PM

Kohli fell to zero

Running in, Siraj bowls a length ball at the stumps. Kohli attempts his signature flip but is unable to maintain it. At short midwicket, Washington has a regulation catch, but he drops it.

At the opposite end is Bethell, who has joined Suyash as an Impact Player.

RCB 5/0 following one

Apr 24, 2026, 9:42 PM

Bethell is unable to capitalise on his good fortune

Now Bethell is fortunate. He hangs his bat out to a length ball that bounces extra and jags in to take the inside edge while facing Kagiso Rabada. Buttler dives full length to his right, but it avoids the stumps.

He is hammered over mid-on by Kohli, who comes down the track later in the over. It wasn't a flawless smash, but it was enough to give Kohli his 800th IPL four. Nobody has made that many hits.

Siraj hits two fours, one on each side of the wicket, as Bethell shuffles in his crease in the third over. However, he finds Shahrukh Khan at backwards point after attempting the same tactic on the final ball of the over.

RCB 26/1 following three

Apr 24, 2026, 9:53 PM

Padikkal's first-ball six gets him off to a good start

At 153.6 kph, Kagiso Rabada bowls a length ball on the stumps. He gets picked up for a six over deep square leg by Padikkal, who is deep in his crease.

When Siraj bowls on Padikkal's pads, he commits a similar error and is flipped to fine leg for four. After that, Siraj changes his line to outside off and bowls four consecutive dots. However, the over's ultimate delivery is too full. For a six, Padikkal leans into it and lofts it over further cover.

RCB 50/1 following five

Apr 24, 2026, 10:09 PM

Kohli's 300th six

GT is being made to pay for the reprieve by Kohli. When Rashid Khan bowls the ninth over, Kohli pulls him over deep midwicket for a six after he bowls a half-tracker. In the IPL, this is his 300th six. He slices Rashid for four on the subsequent ball.

In the IPL, Kohli scored 300 sixes. Chris Gayle (357) and Rohit Sharma (310) are the only players with more hits.

RCB 83/1 following 8

Apr 24, 2026, 10:13 PM

Padikkal dissects Rashid and Prasidh

Gill's preferred bowler in the middle overs has been Prasidh Krishna. He has taken wickets in addition to stopping runs with his powerful lengths. In this instance, however, he misplaces his line against Padikkal, who pulls him over fine leg for a six after flicking him fine for a four. Prasidh circles the wicket for the final ball of the over, but he ends up bowling too full. For another six, Padikkal lofts him over long-off.

In the same way, he launches Rashid over long-off at first, then sweeps him over deep square leg. He reaches his fifty off of just twenty balls with the second shot.

After ten, RCB is 118/1; they require 88 from the following ten.

Apr 24, 2026, 10:19 PM

Kohli also gets fifty

It takes him thirty balls to get there. However, Padikkal's knock has made it appear nearly unremarkable. However, Kohli has no intention of acting as the anchor in this situation. On the pads, Rabada makes two mistakes. After flicking him for four, Kohli lifts him for a six over deep midwicket.

RCB 131/1 after 11

Apr 24, 2026, 10:37 PM

Padikkal and Kohli falter, but RCB is making great progress

Rashid bowls a googly while circling the wicket. Padikkal swings and misses after failing to lift it up and falling to the ground. The bails are trimmed by the ball. Padikkal takes 55 off of 27.

Holder is then faced by Kohli. He flicks him over deep midwicket and into the stands as he walks at him. He steps down again on the subsequent ball, but this time he gives himself some leeway and goes over mid-off, which carries all the way for a six. For the photographers, Kohli strikes a pose.

After that, the holder inserts a short, slower ball outside off. Instead of pulling, Kohli chops it against his stumps. For 81 off 44, he walks back. However, RCB is well on their way to winning.

RCB 158/3 following 14

Apr 24, 2026, 10:45 PM

RCB shakiness

Jitesh Sharma and Rajat Patidar decide they want to get it done quickly. Each of them hits a six off Rashid, but Jitesh is caught in covers by the spinner. Manav Suthar, a left-arm spinner, catches Patidar at extra cover after beating him in the air. RCB is now five behind.

RCB requires 31 runs in four overs.

Apr 24, 2026, 10:54 PM

RCB is close thanks to Krunal

4 4 0 0 6 1

With his strike on Suthar, Krunal firmly closes the door just when it appeared that RCB had left it open. After hitting consecutive fours to begin the 18th over, he is dismissed for a six over deep midwicket. He takes 15 from that over in total. RCB requires seven out of twelve balls.

Apr 24, 2026, 10:59 PM

Krunal concludes

Krunal completes RCB's commanding victory. He delicately drags Holder down to fine leg for the winning run after swatting him for four to tie the score with five required from eight balls. With the victory, RCB is now in second place on the points table, behind only the undefeated Punjab Kings.

The crowd isn't leaving the Chinnaswamy for RCB's final league game. "RCB, RCB" is being chanted by them.