Du Plessis, bowlers seal see-saw win for Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Du Plessis took control then on, taking on debutant Manav Suthar and Mohit, and the team fifty was brought up in 3.1 overs. Kohli then pounced on Suthar to hit him for consecutive sixes over long-on. The onslaught continued as du Plessis then reached his fifty off 18 balls as RCB went past their previous-best powerplay score of 88. By the time he was dismissed in the sixth over by Little, RCB had already razed 92 off the target.

DK, Swapnil douse fire

From then on, however, wickets started to fall. RCB were probably looking to finish the game quickly to give their slim playoff qualification chances an NRR boost, but their batters fell trying to go after GT’s bowlers.

Will Jacks fell to Noor Ahmad’s spin while Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green were all dismissed by Little’s short ball. When Noor’s googly had Kohli edging behind for 42 in the 11th over, RCB were at 117 for 6, having lost six wickets for 25 runs.

With four overs of Rashid left – he didn’t bowl earlier due to a blow to his head while batting – GT searched for a seventh wicket to put in the ultimate squeeze, but Dinesh Karthik did not let the spinner settle by clubbing three fours in his opening over to give the Chinnaswamy crowd their voice again. When Rashid returned for his second over, Swapnil gave him the same treatment, hitting a six over the bowler’s head to secure the two points.