You just can’t keep Virat Kohli‘s bat quiet for a very long time. Even though he had two fifties in the IPL 2026, prior to his knock on Friday, but it was a daddy-knock that really announced him on the stage once again. His crafty 81 from 44 deliveries ensured Bengaluru notched a comfortable 5-wicket victory against GT at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, in what was to be their last match at the venue.
Now, as the team will move to their adopted ground — Raipur — for the next set of home matches, Rajat Patidar & Co. will give a push for the playoffs qualification from there — as they sit pretty on the IPL 2026 points table on second position, with 5 wins from 7 matches — exactly at the halfway stage.
But one must be reminded, that what they achieved in Bengaluru, was no mean feat, chasing 206, on a sluggish pitch, where the ball was a bit slow to come on to the bat, and hitting boundaries wasn’t the easiest, especially for the new batters.
Virat Kohli misses 100, shows ‘who is the boss’
Even though he has played 421 T20s in his career, at 37, there is hardly anyone who can come close to Kohli, in terms of consistency in the format. With his innings of 81, he is not the Orange Cap holder for the season, returning with scores of 69, 28, 32, 50, 49, and 19. In all the matches, he has ensured that RCB get a solid start from one end, even when Phil Salt looked out of sorts.
Nonetheless, his strike rate has been 163 so far, his best in all the seasons. So Kohli is operating at a level, that has surpassing his greatness as well; quietly. His next best strike-rate came in the 2024 season, where he struck at 154.
At one stage, the way Kohli was going, he looked certain for a ton, and was even approaching to become the first player to score 9,000 runs in the IPL, was his journey was cut short by Jason Holder. But before he got out, he had already forged a 115-run partnership with Devdutt Padikkal (55), and the match only remained a formality after that.
Blunders galore by GT
It is not that GT could not have won after getting to 205, but committed a few mistakes, some before match, and some during. Firstly, why was left-arm spinner Manav Suthar picked in the team? GT could have very well gone with Sai Kishore, who had 19 wickets last season; hasn’t play even one this year. He did not complete his quota and gave away 19 runs.
Next. GT clearly fell short by 15-20 runs. Batting is a big issue for them, as they lack hitters once the order moves beyond Jos Buttler. The use of Shahrukh Khan and Rahul Tewatia is still not clear. In this match, Gujarat were 160/2 in 15.3 overs when Washington Sundar was sent out to bat. Why weren’t Shahrukh Khan or Tewatia preferred, whose role is of a finisher in the team.
As a result, they could only manage to score 45 in the next 27 deliveries. This just raises questions on overall tactics.
Sai Sudharsan’s good work undone
If not for Sai Sudharsan, GT would have struggled to even cross 150. In a way, the TN batter, batted out of his skin to score 100 from 58. And the highlight of his innings was — him stepping down to bowlers and showing his intent. That is something you don’t associate with him.
It was this very aggressive approach, that led him to score a six off Krunal Pandya, who peppered him with a wide bouncer, but he cut him for a six over third man — something that doesn’t happen too often in cricket. Eventually he ended up with 11 fours and 5 sixes; but the support was lacking from the other end. In the end, Holder slammed 23 from 10, which of course, wasn’t enough on the day.
IPL 2026 points table after RCB vs GT match
| Pos | Team | P | W | L | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PBKS | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 11 | +1.420 |
| 2 | RCB | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 | +1.101 |
| 3 | RR | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 | +0.790 |
| 4 | SRH | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 8 | +0.820 |
| 5 | CSK | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0.118 |
| 6 | DC | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | -0.130 |
| 7 | GT | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6 | -0.790 |
| 8 | MI | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | -0.780 |
| 9 | LSG | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 4 | -1.277 |
| 10 | KKR | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | -1.076 |
Next IPL match (April 25)
| Match | Venue | Time |
|---|---|---|
| DC vs PBKS | Delhi | 3:30 PM IST |
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