Watch | Sai Sudharsan's Playoff Nightmare: Bat Flies to Stumps, Ball Rolls Down to the Boundary

Gujarat Titans' chase of 255 in their IPL playoff qualifier 1 game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru descended into farce and frustration within the first five overs, undone not merely by sharp bowling but by the kind of misfortune that makes even neutrals wince.

A bat that had no business leaving its owner's hands, a captain who picked the worst moment to miss a heave, and a former England captain who departed just as he was threatening to ignite a comeback.

The Titans were 51 for 4 in 5.1 overs, and the game, for all practical purposes, was slipping away.

Sai Sudharsan, the current Orange Cap holder and Gujarat's most reliable run-scorer this season, had just cracked Jacob Duffy through the covers for a lovely square cut to the boundary in the third over.

The shot was timed sweetly off the back foot, and a back-to-back four looked a certainty. Instead, in the follow-through, Sudharsan's bat slipped clean out of his hands, bounced in the crease, top-spun onto the leg stump, and dislodged the bails.

He was out for 14 off 9 balls, hit wicket, and walked off with a dejected look on his face as disbelief settled over the Gujarat camp.

Duffy, who had been struck for a four and a six in consecutive deliveries by Jos Buttler in his previous over, ended up with one of the most improbable wickets a bowler can claim. Gujarat were 17 for 1 in 2.3 overs, needing 238 more runs from 105 balls.

"Sai Sudarshan hilarious hit wicket - The ball went to the boundary and the bat goes to stumps," wrote one user on X.

"Sai Sudarshan got out by hit wicket comedy of error you don't wanna see in the playoffs. Tough luck for Sai," wrote another.

The mood in the Gujarat dugout had barely settled when captain Shubman Gill followed his opening partner to the pavilion.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar angled the ball into the right-hander, and Gill missed it entirely while attempting a big heave across the line, departing for just 2 off 7 balls.

Buttler's attacking cameo came to an early end as the England batter was gone for 29, and Gujarat Titans were 51 for 3 in 4.5 overs, staring down an asking rate that was rapidly becoming an impossibility.

One of the rarest dismissals you will ever see set the tone, and the Titans never recovered from it.

At the time of filing this report, Gujarat Titans had slumped to 62 for 5 in 7.3 overs, with Jason Holder departing for a first-ball duck, caught at mid-on.