The Indian Batting League — also known as the Indian Premier League — continues to make the bowlers question their wisdom of opting for their profession.
Another score of 200 or more was chased down with ridiculous ease on Sunday. Put in to bat, Gujarat Titans had made 200 for three, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru stormed past that total with four overs and nine wickets to spare to post its third win, and the second in as many games.
That man who has mastered the art of chasing was there till the end. And Virat Kohli played brilliantly, but he was overshadowed at the Narendra Modi Stadium by Will Jacks.
The Indian superstar didn’t mind that at all; he didn’t hide his emotion when he watched Will Jacks completing his stunning hundred with a six, the only way to reach the landmark, as just one was required at that time.
Kohli (70 n.o., 44b, 6x4, 3x6) and Jacks (100 n.o., 41b, 5x4, 10x6) put on 166 for the unfinished second wicket. That was after Kohli and captain Faf du Plessis raced to 40 within four overs.
Jacks may have taken some time to get going; he was on 16 off as many balls after 10 overs. His partner had by that time reached another fifty, this time off 32 balls. The Englishman soon tore into the GT attack.
After hitting Mohit Sharma for a six and a four in the 11th over, he targeted the seamer again when he came back for his second over. He clobbered him for 28 runs in the 15th over which also had a no-ball.
In the next over, Kohli took a single off Rashid Khan’s first ball to let Jacks finish the job. That over also produced 29, with the last ball dispatched over deep mid-wicket.
Earlier, it took an 86-run stand from the two Tamil Nadu batters B. Sai Sudharshan (84 n.o., 49b, 8x4, 4x6) and M. Shahrukh Khan (58, 30b, 3x4, 5x6) to recover from 45 for two in 6.4 overs. The ploy to send Shahrukh at No. 4 worked, but his big hits were to be upstaged by Jacks’.
Scoreboard
Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha c Sharma b Swapnil Singh 5 Shubman Gill c Green b Maxwell 16 Sai Sudharsan not out 84 M Shahrukh Khan b Mohammed Siraj 58 David Miller not out 26 Extras: (LB-1 NB-1 W-9) 11
Total: (For 3 wickets in 20 overs) 200
Fall of wickets: 1/6 2/45 3/131
Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowling: Swapnil Singh 3-0-23-1, Mohammed Siraj 4-0-34-1, Yash Dayal 4-0-34-0, Glenn Maxwell 3-0-28-1, Karn Sharma 3-0-38-0, Cameron Green 3-0-42-0.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Innings: Virat Kohli not out 70 Faf du Plessis c (sub)Vijay Shankar b Sai Kishore 24 Will Jacks not out 100 Extras: (B-4, LB-4, W-3, NB-1) 12
Total: (1 wkt, 16 Overs) 206
Fall of Wickets: 1-40.
Gujarat Titans bowling: Azmatullah Omarzai 2-0-18-0, Sandeep Warrier 1-0-15-0, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore 3-0-30-1, Rashid Khan 4-0-51-0, Noor Ahmad 4-0-43-0, Mohit Sharma 2-0-41-0.
