Gujarat Titans (GT) secured a commanding eight-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their IPL 2025 encounter at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. A key turning point in the match was the early dismissal of Virat Kohli, which former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson believes significantly tilted the game in Gujarat’s favor. He highlighted how Kohli’s departure disrupted RCB’s batting momentum and played a crucial role in GT’s triumph.
RCB, banking on Kohli to stabilize their innings, were dealt an early blow when Arshad Khan removed the star batter in just the second over. Attempting a pull shot off a short delivery, Kohli mistimed it straight into the hands of Prasidh Krishna at deep backward square leg. His dismissal for just 7 off 6 balls left RCB struggling at 8/1, putting immediate pressure on the middle order.
“It was just an instinctive shot—one that Virat has played successfully many times before. This time, it went straight to the fielder. He’s hit the same shot for six plenty of times, and he’s worked it along the ground, but that’s just the unpredictability of cricket. Getting him out early was a massive advantage for Gujarat because Virat at Chinnaswamy is incredibly dangerous. He’s scored nearly 3,000 runs here and knows how to construct match-winning innings. That wicket was crucial,” Kane Williamson shared on JioHotstar.
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Mohammed Siraj, playing against his former franchise, further compounded RCB’s troubles with a sensational spell of 3/19. He dismissed Devdutt Padikkal and Philip Salt in the powerplay, ensuring RCB never fully recovered. Despite valiant efforts from Liam Livingstone (54 off 40), Tim David (32 off 18), and Jitesh Sharma (33 off 21), RCB could only post a modest 169/8 in their 20 overs.
In response, Gujarat’s batting lineup made light work of the chase. Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 73 off 39 balls, along with Sai Sudharsan’s 49 off 36 and Sherfane Rutherford’s 30* off 18, helped GT reach the target comfortably in just 17.5 overs with eight wickets in hand. Reflecting on RCB’s approach, Williamson noted how the team might have miscalculated in pursuit of a big total.
“In the IPL, teams are often looking to push for high totals, especially at grounds like Bengaluru and Hyderabad, where big scores are common. But sometimes, in the quest for those extra runs, you can get ahead of yourself. Losing early wickets meant RCB had to consolidate rather than attack aggressively.”
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“If they had wickets in hand, the last 10 overs could have been far more productive, possibly pushing the scoring rate to 14 per over or more. Looking back, RCB might feel that if they had steadied the ship for a few more overs, they could have built a stronger platform. They started the season brilliantly, but this game will be a learning experience on adapting strategies based on match situations,” Williamson added.
