Royal Challengers Bengaluru have made it a habit of embarking on a late charge towards the business end of the league phase of the IPL, and it’s no different this time around. Having lost seven of their first eight games, the three-time finalists are aware that their fate is no longer in their own hands. What they also know is that they can only control what they can, which is turn in competent performances and hope for the rest to fall in place.

At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday night, RCB took another big step towards achieving their goal of ending the league campaign on a high, brushing Gujarat Titans aside by four wickets with a humongous 38 deliveries to spare to register their third win in a row. Victory was a formality once they bowled Gujarat out for 147 on the back of Mohammed Siraj’s two for 29, and skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli put on 92 (35 balls) for the first wicket.