Follow UsAfter a blazing start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, RCB were finally given a reality check with an eight-wicket loss against Gujarat Titans on April 2 (Wednesday). Yet again, the toss became a huge talking point, as RCB lost three wickets in the powerplay, and at 38/3, it was a huge hill to climb.
“We lost some wickets trying to be aggressive in the powerplay; that was obviously a big swing in the game. Often if you lose powerplay, you are in trouble. We had to fight hard, thought we scrapped really hard after the powerplay. Tim David, Jitesh and Livingstone did well to give us a total we could challenge them,” Flower reflected in the post-match press conference.
The troika of Jitesh Sharma (33), Liam Livingstone (54) and Tim David (32) ultimately took the hosts to 169/8, a total that was quite tricky for the Titans to chase. Flower also reasoned out how the surface wasn’t a ‘typical Chinnaswamy wicket’, adding that the toss did play a reasonable factor.
“The toss was reasonably important today, there was quite a bit of dew, we knew that. The ball did grip off the seam in the first innings, it was fairly important. It wasn’t a typical Chinnaswamy wicket, where you expect the ball to come a lot quicker. That’s not the reason for the result, they played better than us today, Siraj bowled really well.”
As it turned out, former RCB mainstay Mohammed Siraj played a villain role on his return to Chinnaswamy Stadium, with figures of 3/19, his best-ever IPL figures at the venue. Do RCB regret letting go of the Indian pacer? Flower says no.
“Siraj bowled an outstanding spell with the new ball; his lines were good, his lengths were tight, and he threatened the stumps a lot, so good on him. We all rate Siraj very highly, of course, and we love Siraj. I think we had a good auction and put a good squad together, I wish Siraj all the success in the world.”
Despite the loss, RCB are still well-placed on third in the IPL 2025 points table, only behind Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals, on net run rate.