Having lost seven of their first eight games, the three-time finalists are aware that their fate is no longer in their own hands
Cameron Green and Mohammed Siraj celebrate a GT wicket in Bangalore on Saturday. Pic/PTI
Royal Challengers Bengaluru have made it a habit of embarking on a late charge towards the business end of the league phase of the IPL, and it’s no different this time around. Having lost seven of their first eight games, the three-time finalists are aware that their fate is no longer in their own hands. What they also know is that they can only control what they can, which is turn in competent performances and hope for the rest to fall in place.
At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday night, RCB took another big step towards achieving their goal of ending the league campaign on a high, brushing Gujarat Titans aside by four wickets with a humongous 38 deliveries to spare to register their third win in a row. Victory was a formality once they bowled Gujarat out for 147 on the back of Mohammed Siraj’s two for 29, and skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli put on 92 (35 balls) for the first wicket.
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In a bid to up their run-rate, RCB lost wickets in a clutch thereafter, Josh Little making the most of the bounce in the track to reduce them to 117 for six. Not for the first time, the calm head of Dinesh Karthik came to their rescue as he and Swapnil Singh took the team home without further damage, helping the hosts climb from the bottom to the seventh position.
Siraj’s Powerplay exploits set the tone for the events that followed, the India quick coming into his own after an indifferent start to the competition. “He’s the leader of our group, our most experienced bowler, especially among our Indian quicks,” RCB’s assistant coach Adam Griffith acknowledged. “But even with our international guys…He’s played a lot for India and done really, really well. Having him up and bowling well…It’s not just him bowling well. It’s his aggression, his body language, him taking the batters on to try and get wickets, that’s such an important part of what we’re trying to do. Having him up and going, swinging the ball again, bowling with good pace and being aggressive, is so important to us.”
Siraj had been unwell leading into the game but was determined not to let that hold him back. “When I got up this morning, I thought it was better to rest but the almighty made me play,” the 30-year-old said after picking up his Player of the Match award.
“I had been playing red-ball cricket for long and hadn’t played with the white ball since the ODI World Cup [in November]. My rhythm was missing a little bit when I came here. But it came back gradually as I worked and practiced more and more,” he added. After Kohli began the chase with two sixes in the first over from Mohit Sharma, du Plessis blasted 64 in just 23 deliveries, the perfect insurance against the mid-innings wobble.
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