Ahmedabad (TIP)- Royal Challengers Bengaluru would strongly agree that April 30 marked their most underwhelming outing of IPL 2026, where neither their batting nor their bowling clicked or lived up to expectations. With a chance to secure the top spot in the points table, RCB stumbled as Gujarat Titans defeated them by four wickets on Thursday, April 30, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
RCB were not even half as convincing as they were against Delhi Capitals, where they had won by nine wickets with 81 balls to spare. GT also exacted revenge on RCB, avenging their earlier defeat when they lost to them in Bengaluru earlier this month.
Asked to bat first, RCB were bowled out for the first time in the competition. They managed 155, which also stood as their lowest first-innings total of this edition of the tournament. Thereafter, RCB needed a strong bowling effort to stay in the game, but they couldn’t deliver. Bhuvneshwar Kumar put in a wholehearted effort, but he lacked support from the other end.
For GT, despite the win, they remained fifth in the table and will need more momentum to push higher up the standings. They chased down 156 with 25 balls to spare, improving their net run rate from -0.475 to -0.192.
After being asked to bat first, RCB looked set for another 200-plus total, but the fall of wickets at regular intervals pegged them back significantly. Jacob Bethell fell cheaply, but Virat Kohli arrived firing on all cylinders. Kohli produced an absolute exhibition when he struck Kagiso Rabada for five fours on the trot.
However, Rabada exacted his revenge and removed him with a short ball as Kohli departed for 28 while living by the sword. At one point, Kohli looked well on his way to scoring his fastest IPL fifty, but he fell against the run of play.
Thereafter, Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar stitched together a 44-run stand for the third wicket to maintain momentum for RCB. But after Arshad Khan removed Patidar, the Titans wrested back control. Jason Holder took an excellent catch at fine leg to send Patidar back, carefully avoiding a collision with Kagiso Rabada, although Kohli and RCB were not pleased with the decision.
Jitesh Sharma, Krunal Pandya and Tim David departed in quick succession, and all of a sudden RCB were reduced to 96 for six in 10.3 overs. In the last 53 balls, RCB could only manage 59 runs. Romario Shepherd cleared the boundary twice off Rashid Khan, but he still managed just 17 at a strike rate of 113.33. Venkatesh Iyer, coming in as an Impact Player, also struggled to get going. Had it not been for Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s run-a-ball 15, RCB would have struggled to even cross the 150 mark. For the Titans, Arshad was arguably the standout bowler with three wickets for 22 runs.
Holder had a dream outing as he finished with figures of 4-0-29-2 and also took three catches. Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada picked up a wicket apiece.
The Titans must have closely observed what Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood did to the Capitals the other night in Delhi. Shubman Gill (43) walked out with clear intent, aiming to unsettle the RCB duo who can be destructive, especially in the powerplay. He began by smashing Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a four followed by a six, before taking 24 runs off Josh Hazlewood’s first over.
While Gill made a flying start, there was no joy for Sai Sudharsan, who had scored a hundred against this very opposition in Bengaluru earlier. This time, Sudharsan fell for single digits as Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided the much-needed breakthrough for RCB. Gill also completed 100 IPL sixes for GT and looked set for a half-century before Bhuvneshwar got rid of him. You should have seen Kohli’s animated reaction after taking Gill’s catch, underlining how crucial that wicket was.
After both openers departed, Jos Buttler (39) kept the momentum going and brought the required run rate down to below a run-a-ball, putting GT in a comfortable position. Once again, it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar who stepped up. He claimed his third wicket, castling Buttler around his legs.
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