A lot can change in a short time in the IPL. This time last year, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans squared off at the Chinnaswamy Stadium under very different circumstances. The Titans were toppers and already in the playoffs. RCB were a win away from making it four straight years in the final-four, their fate very much at home, which as it turned out was not the best place it could be.
IPL 2024
RCB out to make most of late-season upswing
"It's obviously different. The hardest thing I found is coming in outside the PowerPlay," Will Jacks on embracing his No.3 role at RCB © BCCI
Snap to the present and Saturday's contest is one between teams placed eighth and tenth. While the qualification flame hasn't been doused for either team, progress from here is now a function of several variables, including form. In that regard, RCB are slightly better placed with two wins on the bounce and a clearer game plan involving front-loading their overseas batters/all-rounders. A third straight win and a double over the Titans will lift Faf du Plessis' side from the points-table floor, where they've spent the majority of this season.
Gujarat, on the other hand, seek an upturn at the top. They are the slowest scoring team in the PowerPlays, but also don't lose many wickets which means they haven't effectively maximised the batting depth with Rashid Khan bating at No.8. The end of this fixture last year was viewed in some quarters as a seminal changing of the guard in Indian cricket when Shubman Gill responded to a Virat Kohli 100 with a ton of his own. A year on, there's no place for the Titans skipper in a World Cup squad with the old guard proving to be resilient.
Gill's 19-ball 16 in last Sunday's clash between these sides in Ahmedabad felt like a particular low point in a middling season for the star batter-captain, the downturn mirroring that of his franchise. The team management, however, firmly remains in his corner and believes that captaincy will
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