3 min readMay 27, 2026 09:02 AM IST
Gujarat Titans all-rounder Glenn Phillips was entrusted with facing the media after his team’s harrowing defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, despite not featuring in the high-stakes contest at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala on Tuesday night. The Kiwi star had to confront a variety of questions, of which a particular query left him fuming.
When quizzed if RCB’s Playoffs record score of 254 for five had already left the Gujarat players resigned back in the dressing room during the mid-innings break, Phillips gave a sharp retort to the reporter, striking down the question as “silly and terrible”.
Gujarat’s stacked bowling attack was buried under a mountain of runs piled on by Rajat Patidar’s unbeaten 93 and a string of strong cameos from Krunal Pandya, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal.
“That’s a silly question. That is a really silly question. No one goes in there waiting to go, ‘Oh, you know what? We’re just going to give up on this one.’ Why would we do that as professional cricketers?
“That’s a terrible question. We went out there, we gave it everything. Unfortunately, when you’re trying to chase 250, everything has to go right. And we went out there to try and make everything go right, and obviously it didn’t,” responded Phillips.
In reply, the GT chase was undone within the Powerplay as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood sent the GT top-order comprising captain Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan and Jos Buttler packing. Phillips admitted that the scoreboard pressure was immense while chasing totals north of 250.
“There’s a huge amount of scoreboard pressure when you’re trying to chase 250. And, you know, very few teams have done it. Obviously, Punjab Kings have managed to do it a couple of times, which has been phenomenal. And I think they’ve maybe made it seem easier than it is. I’ve yet to be part of a team that’s gotten anywhere near 250, so, you know, sometimes it just is what it is,” he said.
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Phillips was also left to wade past a question regarding his presence in the post-match press conference despite not featuring in the match. While he was listed as an Impact Sub option, GT had already four overseas players in the line-up.
“No, that’s fine, that’s fine. It’s all good. Yeah, obviously we’re all part of the team together, and we all have equal media roles to play. I think sometimes an outside perspective from someone who isn’t playing the game, especially for the guys that have to now go and play an Eliminator [helps].
“It’s really important for them to just knuckle down, get their heads where they need to be. Obviously, we’ve played a lot of good cricket leading up to now, so for the boys that are on the park, you know, do what they have to do to make sure they’re ready for the next game. As Ash [Ashish Nehra] says, ‘chill pill,’ make sure they’re ready for the next one,” he added.
Gujarat will now face the winner of the Eliminator match between SunRisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals in the Qualifier 2 contest in Mullanpur on Friday.
