Ahmedabad: Charismatic Gujarat Titans batter Jos Buttler was all smiles after their four-wicket win over defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru, saying the two points from the high-profile IPL clash here on Thursday would prove crucial in their push for a playoff berth.
Gujarat Titans kept losing wickets in their modest 156-run chase, but skipper Shubman Gill’s belligerent 43 off 18 balls and Buttler’s 39 off 19 at the top provided enough cushion before Rahul Tewatia (27 not out) sealed a four-wicket win.
This was the Gujarat Titans’ fifth win of the season, keeping their playoff chances alive. RCB remained in second place with 12 points despite the loss.
“Yeah, massive two points for us. We’re in that scenario where we need to hold on to those guys (teams) ahead of us, and we play a lot of them as well. So, massive time in the tournament and a really important win today,” said Buttler, underlining the significance of beating an in-form side.
He added the pacers, Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada, made things easy for the former champions by making early inroads on a batter-friendly surface. “A really good batting surface. I think the bowlers deserve a lot of credit there. And one of the biggest differences, I think, for us is taking our catches today,” said Buttler post-match. “Some fantastic bowlers on show, obviously, with the new ball. Siraj and Rabada have been great for us,” said the England player.
He said Gill’s calm approach with the bat gave him and the team the confidence to make light work of the chase. “…nice piece of bowling from Bhuvi (RCB’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar). We spoke about it before the match. When your leader goes out there and does exactly what he spoke about, so calmly, so clinically, against a top bowler (like Kumar), I think that gave a lot of confidence and broke the back of the chase very early,” added Buttler.
GT skipper Gill said restricting a team like RCB to below 160 was a “tremendous job by the bowlers.” “Our fielding was one of the things… in phases, we have not fielded well. Energy in the field was very nice, and how we came back together (after the second over) was pleasing…we lost a couple more wickets than we would have liked,” said Gill.
RCB skipper Rajat Patidar admitted his batters did not put enough runs on the board. “I think the score was not good enough, but I think the way we bowled and stretched it to 15, 16 overs, I think that’s a positive sign for us. “I think the way Shubman played, I think he played beautifully in the power play. And he put the pressure on us, but the way we came back and stretched till 16th over, I think that’s a positive.”
On the learnings from the game, Patidar said, he was not happy with his team losing wickets at regular intervals. “I think we gave a lot of wickets in the middle and that kept us on the back seat.” On the positive side, he was happy that seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar again lived up to expectations by taking three wickets. “He’s an experienced bowler of T20 format and the way he bowled in the first half, I think that is incredible. But I think it’s a long way and we’ll take one game at a time. There’s bound to be a hiccup on the way. “We are not looking at it on the table. But we aim to play good cricket,” Patidar said.
