Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s flying start to IPL 2025 came to a halt as Gujarat Titans delivered a commanding performance at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday night. After securing two consecutive wins, RCB faltered in their first home game of the season, suffering an eight-wicket defeat that pushed them down from the top of the points table to third place.
The game also brought an injury scare for RCB when their talismanic batter Virat Kohli hurt his finger while attempting to prevent a boundary during Gujarat’s chase of 170. The incident occurred when Sai Sudharsan swept a delivery from left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya, with the ball bouncing just in front of Kohli at deep midwicket. In an attempt to stop it, he fumbled, and the ball struck his index finger before rolling past the boundary. Kohli was in visible pain, prompting the RCB physio to rush in for medical attention. Though he continued playing, discomfort was evident in his body language.
It wasn’t a memorable outing with the bat for Kohli either, as he was dismissed for just seven runs after RCB were put in to bat first by Gujarat captain Shubman Gill. The top order crumbled under pressure, with Mohammed Siraj making an impact against his former franchise by dismissing Phil Salt and Devdutt Padikkal inside the Powerplay.
At 104/6, RCB found themselves in deep trouble before Liam Livingstone (54 off 40) and Tim David (32* off 18) added crucial runs to help them post a modest 169/8 in 20 overs. However, the target proved insufficient against Gujarat’s solid batting lineup. The visitors made light work of the chase, comfortably reaching the total in 17.5 overs to register their second win in three games.
