First ball of the second over of Rajasthan Royals' (RR) chase against Gujarat Titans (GT). Yashasvi Jaiswal pulled Ishant Sharma, top-edged it, sending it swirling towards point. There was a fielder closer to the ball, but Jos Buttler called for it, ran after it, and spilled it.
"We could have and we should have taken that catch, that would have made a big difference," B Sai Sudharsan said after the game, while adding that it was early on in the game, and "we can't be so harsh". As it turned out, Jaiswal made 31 in 16 balls in the powerplay and his 14-year-old opening partner Vaibhav Suryavanshi 52 in 20. RR got to 87 after six overs. The two ended up adding 166 in 11.5 overs, Suryavanshi breaking records on his way to a 38-ball 101 and Jaiswal, very much the support act, finishing unbeaten on 70 from 40 balls. The win came with 25 balls in hand despite the target being 210.
"When we finished [batting], we felt it was par or ten runs over par, is what our feeling was. But the way they started and batted showed us that we were wrong," Sai Sudharsan, who scored 39 in 30 balls to take the Orange Cap back from Virat Kohli, said.
But it was not just about the batting. Sai Sudharsan felt the bowlers could have done better.
"No credit taken [away] from Vaibhav, the way he batted was tremendous and fantastic to watch, [even though we were] fielding," he said. "But at the same time, we could have reacted well. The way they started the powerplay was brilliant, but we could have reacted well and had better plans.
"Maybe the lengths, and we could have been aware of the wicket, how it reacted to the ball, which they bowled in the first innings. Maybe we could have taken cues from that and executed that. Maybe we could have gone wider, we could have not bowled into his arc, maybe we could have done that and things would have been different."
Why are GT hiding Sai Kishore away?
Not for the first time, R Sai Kishore was given just one over in the game since the opposition had left-hand batters in the middle for the longest time. Sai Kishore remains their second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 12 wickets, but, like against Delhi Capitals (DC) not long ago, he bowled just one over since left-hand batters were in front of him.
There's competition from Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson for an opening slot in India's team
"Sai Kishore came on very late," Varun Aaron said on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out show. Sai Kishore's only over was the 15th of the chase, after Suryavanshi and Nitish Rana had been dismissed. "Yeah, there were two lefties batting, but Sai Kishore can bowl really well to lefties as well. And anyway the guys were going for 25-30 runs [per over]. Somebody who has been performing well, who has the confidence… and Sai Kishore is somebody who likes the challenge."
Ian Bishop was in agreement. "They have been doing this to Sai Kishore the last three or four games," he said. "That's what worries me. Are you saying to Sai Kishore that he can only bowl when right-handers are batting?"
GT have, however, done most things right this IPL 2025 season and, despite the defeat, are at No. 3 with 12 points from nine games and well-placed to make the playoffs. Their next game is on Friday, at home against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).