Strong and loud, as Gujarat Titans (GT) thundered in the IPL 2025 by blowing Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) right out of Chinnaswamy on their home ground, winning eight wickets. While one of them was Mohammed Siraj, firing up the placard with a killer 3 at 19, Jos Buttler’s half-century knock, 73 not out with 39 balls, was also prominent in GT’s impressive victory.
A Dominant Knock from the GT Star
Jos Buttler comes to this IPL under immense pressure because he retired from the England white-ball captaincy following a disastrous Champions Trophy. But if performances mean anything, nothing has changed. This was further consolidated when Buttler went on to score an unbeaten 73 off 39 balls against RCB. He hardly took time to settle before unleashing thunderbolts hitherto. Buttler batted Rasikh Salam for 27 runs from only 12 deliveries, after which everything fell into place and his partnership with Sai Sudharsan turned instrumental in GT’s victory, and he raced to his half-century in just 31 balls.
Masterclass in Powerplay by Mohammed Siraj
The game was won by Mohammed Siraj’s power play. Two wickets were taken on good length out of the 18 balls. The hitters were unable to score because eight of those balls were nearly straight. During this time, RCB batsmen were only able to control Siraj 50% of the time. If Buttler hadn’t lost an easy catch behind the stumps, Siraj would have taken Salt’s wicket very early in the innings. But Siraj quickly made amends by using a 145.9 kph peach to wipe up Devdutt Padikkal.
The Lone Hand of Liam Livingstone
The disappointing match was saved for RCB by Liam Livingstone with an astute fifty off just 39 balls. He was finding it quite difficult to get going and finally ended up hooking Rashid Khan over deep square leg. In fact, he was dropped two times and had one on-field stumping miss, putting him in luck’s way. A huge six over deep midwicket against Rashid broke the shackles, while Tim David also had a six and a four. Still, RCB was struggling at 129 for 6 after 17 overs. However, Livingstone pumped Rashid for three sixes in the 18th to reach his fifty off 39 balls.
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