With an equally impressive and undefeated 70-run knock, Will Jacks blasted the GT bowlers for a forty-one-ball century as part of his unbeaten 166-run partnership with Virat Kohli, which helped RCB defeat GT by nine wickets to remain in the running for the 2024 Indian Premier League playoffs. Will Jacks’s first IPL century and superstar batsman Kohli’s incredible 70 were the driving forces behind the RCB victory. In just 32 deliveries, Kohli achieved the fifty-mile mark, silence his doubters. Titans lost their sixth straight game, while RCB, who are having yet another challenging season, won their third. The team captained by Faf du Plessis looked to have gained some momentum after winning two games in a row on Sunday.
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Incredible Will Jacks Last Evening
Bengaluru was never truly under pressure while chasing 200. After skipper Faf du Plessis was dismissed, Kohli took the initiative and RCB scored 63 runs off of a powerplay. The captain’s dismissal had given the team a strong start. Early on, Will Jacks didn’t seem at ease playing against spin, and Kohli made sure that the scoring pace was close to 10 runs each over. The visitors were up 98 runs to 1, and Jacks was playing run-a-ball (16 off 16).
The Orange Cap holder scored another half-century, but even after the England player smacked a six off Mohit in the eleventh over, Kohli was still the main scorer. In the fifteenth over, Will Jacks went crazy against Mohit and then Rashid Khan.
He enjoyed hitting sixes, and GT was at a loss for countermoves. Will Jacks led RCB to victory with four overs remaining after scoring 83 runs off his final 24 balls. Will In the fifteenth over, Jacks displayed his incredible batting ability. He attacked Mohit Sharma with unrelenting aggression, hitting him for two boundaries and three massive sixes, one of which came off a waist-high no-ball.
With four overs remaining in the difficult 201-run chase, Will Jacks maintained his onslaught, hitting successive sixes and a boundary to quickly secure a comfortable victory for RCB, shattering the Titans’ hopes of controlling him with Rashid Khan’s leg-spin. With that final six, Will Jacks finished his century off just 41 balls, a breathtaking show of power that left onlookers speechless by his stupendous performance.
Kohli’s Silence Critics
In the current season, there has been criticism of Kohli’s performance against spin. But Kohli was at his best against the combination of Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, and R Sai Kishore of the Titans, with a strike rate of 181.81. Seizing the opportunity presented by the spin-heavy attack, Kohli made the most of his sweeps and slog sweeps, scoring 22 runs off of six attempts—his highest total from that shot in a Twenty20 match. His most productive innings of this type in an IPL match was 61 off 34 balls against spin, which enabled him to surpass the 500-run threshold for the season.
The hero of the Royal Challengers Bangalore used the bigger pockets in the Narendra Modi Stadium’s outfield to effectively turn singles into doubles. Especially skilled against spin, Kohli faced just nine deliveries of quick bowling in the Powerplay and still managed to score 43 runs from 23 balls. The veteran RCB batsman was clearly fired up as his team pursued the challenging goal of 201 runs.
GT Post 200
Earlier on Sunday, Sai Sudharsan assisted GT in amassing a threatening 200 for three against RCB, while Shahrukh Khan took advantage of his rise in the batting order to register his first IPL fifty. Shahrukh, batting at number four, amassed 58 runs off of 30 balls while creating an important alliance with Sudharsan, who amassed 84 runs off of 49 deliveries without conceding a wicket. After a sluggish start, their partnership of 86 runs off 45 balls gave the Titans innings the much-needed boost. In the hot Ahmedabad weather, Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis decided to field first, and Glenn Maxwell, who had been out due to both physical and mental health issues, was back in the squad.
Wriddhiman Saha, who attempted an expansive drive off left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh but only managed to find Karn Sharma at third man, was removed early on in the Titans innings, which did not start well. The Titans were in danger when Cameron Green made an incredible catch at long-on off Maxwell’s bowling to end skipper Shubman Gill’s innings. In a cunning ploy, the Titans elevated Shahrukh above other experienced batsmen while Sudharsan held strong at one end. Shahrukh struck five sixes and three fours while concentrating on the spinners, especially in the cow corner area. This was a wise move. With a maximum off Green’s bowling, he achieved his half-century before Mohammed Siraj’s stinging yorker got him.
Sudharsan was joined in the middle by David Miller, and the two combined for an undefeated 69 runs off 36 balls, guaranteeing the Titans would reach a respectable total. With his second consecutive fifty-plus score, which included eight fours and four sixes, Sudharsan maintained his excellent form and successfully led the Titans’ innings. What an incredible inning it was by Will Jacks.
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