Mohammed Siraj’s fiery spell and Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 73 helped Gujarat Titans (GT) secure an eight-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Siraj, playing against his former team for the first time, picked up 3 for 19, restricting RCB to 169 for 8. Despite Liam Livingstone’s 54 and cameos from Jitesh Sharma and Tim David, RCB’s total proved insufficient. Buttler then anchored GT’s chase, ensuring a comfortable victory with 13 balls to spare. 
Siraj made an instant impact, rattling RCB’s top order. He removed Devdutt Padikkal and Phil Salt in the powerplay, the latter falling to a 145.9kph delivery after hitting a massive six. He later dismissed Livingstone in the 19th over, finishing with 14 dot balls. RCB struggled early at 42 for 4 but recovered through Livingstone and Jitesh. The duo added 52 runs before R Sai Kishore broke the stand. Livingstone, dropped twice, capitalized on his chances, smashing Rashid Khan for five sixes. David’s late hitting lifted RCB to a competitive total, but it still felt under-par.
GT’s chase started cautiously as Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept things tight. Shubman Gill fell for 11, but Sai Sudharsan and Buttler added 75 off 47 balls to stabilize the innings. Buttler initially struggled, managing just five runs off eight balls, but he soon took charge, attacking Rasikh Salam to find his rhythm. Sudharsan played fluently, scoring 49 before falling just short of a fifty.
Sherfane Rutherford, coming in as the Impact Sub, joined Buttler and the pair added an unbroken 63-run stand in just 32 balls. Buttler reached his half-century off 31 balls and finished with 73 off 39, guiding GT to their second win in three matches. This defeat pushed RCB to third place behind Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals.
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