Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) staged a remarkable chase to beat Gujarat Titans (GT) by five wickets in a high-scoring Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 encounter at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday (April 24). The defending champions overhauled the target of 206 with seven balls to spare to climb to second place in the points table.
Gujarat Titans’ Sai Sudharsan smashes a century but the side falls behind
Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to bowl first on a batting pitch. Gujarat Titans got off to a flying start as Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill put together an opening stand of 128 runs. Sudharsan, who returned to form, scored a brilliant 100 off just 58 balls, studded with 11 fours and five sixes. His third IPL century powered GT to an impressive 205/3 in 20 overs.
Shubman Gill contributed a steady 32 off 24 balls before Suyash Sharma fell. Jos Buttler added a brisk 25 off 16 while Jason Holder smashed an unbeaten 23 off 10 in the death overs. The RCB bowlers led by Josh Hazlewood (1/40) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/31) and Suyash Sharma (1/36) pulled things off nicely in the middle and death stages after a costly over. The home side restricted GT to less than 210, which proved to be chaseable at this venue.
Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal’s master class seal thrilling win for Royal Challengers Bengaluru
RCB’s chase got off to a shaky start when Jacob Bethell departed for 14 off 10. But Virat Kohli, dropped early by Washington Sundar for a wicket, made GT pay dearly. He combined with Devdutt Padikkal for a match-deciding partnership for the second wicket.
Kohli played a remarkable knock, scoring 81 off 44 balls with eight fours and four sixes. Padikkal matched him blow for blow, smashing 55 off just 27 deliveries, including six sixes and two fours. Their aggressive approach kept the required pace in check and thrilled the packed Chinnaswamy crowd.
After Padikkal fell to Rashid Khan, RCB lost a couple of quick wickets but the lower order remained firm. Tim David (10*) and Krunal Pandya (23*) finished the job in style with Pandya hitting the winning runs in the 19th over. RCB reached 206/5 in 18.5 overs.
Man of the match Virat Kohli said: “If you see the ball to bat, back off, go for it because we have batting depth and we have confidence in the group as well. (here in the audience) Yeah, great. I mean, first of all, we’re quite happy to have played five matches here. The fans will see the team again and yes, later we can play cricket, a tournament, a special place. back here and entertain the crowd one more time.”
RCB surged up the points table after a dominant home win
With this win, RCB now have five wins from seven matches and 10 points and are second only to Punjab Kings with an NRR of +1.101. GT, on the other hand, remained seventh with three wins and four losses from seven games and an NRR of -0.790.
