Follow UsAfter two impressive wins, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) faltered in their first home game of the IPL 2025 season against Gujarat Titans. While it was impressive that RCB’s middle-order rescued them from a situation of bother (42/4), their 169/8 in the end turned out to be just a footnote, as Gujarat Titans chased it down in a canter.
Kane Williamson, who was amongst the commentary panellists, reckoned that RCB’s approach to pursuing a high total got them ahead of themselves.
“There’s a growing trend in the IPL where teams are constantly aiming for high totals, especially at venues like Bengaluru and Hyderabad, where big scores seem achievable. But sometimes, in the pursuit of those high totals, you can get ahead of yourself,” Williamson said on JioStar.
Williamson insisted that at 13/2 in the third over, RCB should have employed a more cautious approach, consolidating and building a partnership. The former Gujarat Titans batter opined that had RCB saved their wickets up front, they could have even attained the 200-run mark with ease, something that would have given them a higher chance of winning the clash.
“After losing a couple of early wickets, it’s important to consolidate and build a partnership. If you have wickets in hand, the last 10 overs can be really productive, going at 14 runs per over or more. Perhaps RCB might reflect on this game and feel that if they had batted together for a few more overs, they could have set themselves up better,” he added.
“They played incredibly well in the first two games, but they might look back and think that a different approach in the middle overs could have put them in a stronger position on this wicket, which had some assistance for seam bowlers.”
RCB are still at the top half of the IPL 2025 points table after their impressive start to the season, where they even beat their arch-nemesis Chennai Super Kings at their own den.