IPL 2023: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Titans, Match 70 - Talking Points and Who Said What?

The 70th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 featured a clash between the Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bangalore and the defending champions Gujarat Titans at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Sunday, May 21.

As Virat Kohli’s ton propelled Bangalore to a competitive total of 197 runs in the first innings, Shubman Gill followed it up with an exceptional century, and as Gujarat defeated Bangalore by six wickets, it meant that the Faf du Plessis-led side are eliminated from the tournament.

Here are the Talking Points from the RCB vs GT clash-

Virat Kohli’s class

Star Indian batter Virat Kohli was key for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first innings of the match. As the batting order of the hosts crumbled under the relentless attack of Gujarat, Kohli took the attack back to the opposition and scored a brilliant century. The 34-year-old scored 101* runs in 61 deliveries and helped Bangalore post 197 runs on the board.

Shubman Gill’s blitzkrieg

Shubman Gill looked like he could do no wrong during the run chase against Bangalore. The 23-year-old was crucial for the defending champions in the second innings. Playing an unbeaten knock of 104* runs in 52 balls, Gill made sure that Gujarat finished the game and emerged victorious.

Vijay Shankar’s knock

Indian batter Vijay Shankar also looked to be in the flow for Gujarat in the run chase. Batting in a strong partnership with Gill, Shankar scored a brilliant half-century, scoring 53 runs in 35 deliveries and helping the defending champions win the game. 

Losing skipper Faf du Plessis said-

Very disappointed. We played a really strong team tonight, an amazing hundred from Shubman. It was really wet in the second innings. It was wet in the first innings as well, but there wasn't a lot of grip in the second innings and also we had to change the ball quite a few times during the second innings. Virat played an unbelievable knock to give us a chance and thought that was a good score, but Shubman played incredibly well to take the game away from us. From a batting perspective, the top 4 contributed really well. We missed a few runs from the middle order consistently throughout the season, especially in the back end of the innings, and also in the middle overs perhaps didn't get as many wickets as we would have liked. He (Kohli) played really good cricket throughout the season and as a partnership probably not a single game where we had anything under 40 as an opening combination. We need to improve well on finishing games especially in the back end. Last year DK had a purple patch and was finishing games left, right and centre, but this season it wasn't to be. And if you see the teams that succeed they have some good hitters at five at six probably six and seven.

Winning skipper Hardik Pandya said-

The calmness which the boys had was terrific. We wanted to keep the momentum going. We have ticked a lot of balls. (On Gill) He knows when he plays those cricketing shots, it's a different Shubman Gill. He doesn't give any chance, and that gives confidence to the other batter as well. We would have taken 197 at the start, but we didn't bowl well. Special innings from Kohli, but we went too early for the death overs. I can't ask anything better from the boys. Last year, everything went well for us. We were expecting people to challenge us. The boys showed tremendous character.

Player of the Match Shubman Gill said-

I am in good form, it's about getting a start and converting it into a big one. It's all working out for me in the business end of the tournament. You need to keep playing shots in T20 cricket. The new ball was holding a bit, it got easier to bat on. It was difficult for their spinners to bowl. He (Shankar) was trying to hit too hard, I told him to hold his shape. Once he found the momentum, he can hit long. I know my game; I keep building on it. It's going to be an exciting one, playing against Chennai in Chennai. We have a great bowling attack and hopefully we'll make it to the final for the second time.