Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally ended their losing streak at home with an 11-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.
The win was set up by half-centuries by Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal, who, along with cameos from Tim David and Jitesh Sharma, propelled RCB to 205/5, their highest score at home in this season. Despite RR’s batters coming out all guns blazing, spinners Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma applied the brakes.
RR needed just 18 runs off the last two overs to break their four-match losing streak. But Josh Hazlewood bowled a penultimate over to remember, conceding just one run while taking two wickets to seal a victory for RCB and leaving their jubilant home crowd in celebration mode.
Hazlewood eventually ended with 4-33 in his four overs as RR ended up at 194/9 and botched up yet another chase which they should have won. Their third straight implosion in a chase, this time in Bengaluru, has left their playoffs hopes hanging by a slim thread.
Yashasvi Jaiswal got going from the word go by pulling Bhuvneshwar Kumar for six, before hitting two fours, including off a leading edge and a six over deep mid-wicket in an 18-run second over off Yash Dayal. After Vaibhav Suryavanshi hoicked Bhuvneshwar for six, Jaiswal ducked, slashed, and missed on the first three balls off Hazlewood.
But on the next three balls, Jaiswal picked three fours, including off a top edge on a pull. After Suryavanshi top-edged off Bhuvneshwar for six, the veteran pacer bounced back by castling the young left-handed batter with a knuckleball. Despite that, Jaiswal sliced Hazlewood twice for fours, before ramping him for six.
But on the very next ball, Hazlewood came from around the wicket and cramped Jaiswal, who pulled to mid-wicket and fell one run short of a breathtaking fifty. Despite taking out Jaiswal, RCB continued to leak runs – after Nitish Rana slashed Romario Shepherd for four, Riyan Parag carted him for another boundary and six.
Parag then dispatched Suyash Sharma for two leg-side sixes and a four, before Rana feasted on width from Dayal by hitting consecutive boundaries. But Krunal Pandya struck on his very first ball by having Parag top-edge to keeper Jitesh Sharma. After Parag fell, RCB managed to stem the run-flow by conceding just one boundary in overs 10-13.
The combination of pressure by Pandya and Suyash Sharma, along with the ball change, worked for RCB as Rana picked out a short fine leg, who took the catch on the second attempt, off the former, while Hazlewood had Shimron Hetmyer nicking behind to Jitesh.
Jurel, who was on 18 off 23, broke the shackles by hitting a six each off Suyash and Pandya before he and Shubham Dubey took 22 runs off Bhuvneshwar in the 18th over. But Hazlewood got RCB back in the game – his wide yorker caught Jurel’s bottom edge and had him dismissed on review, which was initially sought by Jitesh, before getting an extra bounce to have Jofra Archer chip to cover for a golden duck.
Hazlewood picking three wickets while conceding only seven runs in his final two overs was enough for RCB to clinch their first home win of IPL 2025, bringing immense relief to the team and their loyal home crowd.
Previously, Kohli and Padikkal hit 70 and 50 respectively, while David and Jitesh hit cameos of 23 and 20 respectively. Kohli and Phil Salt had to face some searing bowling from Jofra Archer before teeing off to bring up RCB’s fifty in just 4.4 overs.
Luck was in Kohli’s favour when he almost chopped on to his stumps off Archer and got a boundary, before using his bottom-hand whip to take another four.
After Salt, dropped on one by Parag, took two boundaries off Farooqi, the opener duly dispatched Tushar Deshpande’s full balls for consecutive fours before Kohli flicked off him and then drove off Sandeep Sharma, as RCB ended the power-play at 59/0. Shortly after that, Salt ran out of luck when a top-edge on the sweep was caught by deep mid-wicket off Wanindu Hasaranga.
Despite the stranglehold by Hasaranga and Parag, Kohli sliced and edged off Sandeep to bring up his fifth fifty of the season in 32 balls. From the other end, a sublime Padikkal was elegant in his pull, sweep, drive down the ground, and punch through the off-side to pick boundaries.
He had luck on his side when Deshpande dropped his catch on 28 off Hasaranga. To rub salt in the wound, Padikkal danced down the pitch to loft off Parag and then sliced Deshpande over the third man to collect two sixes. While Kohli dispatched and lofted off Parag and Deshpande for a six each, Padikkal got his fifty in 26 balls by lofting the latter down the ground for a majestic maximum.
RR’s move to bring back Archer paid off when he broke the 95-run partnership, as Kohli chipped a slower ball to cover. The visitors’ opting to take the second new ball brought immediate reward when Padikkal spooned a slower ball from Sandeep to juggling mid-off, while Rajat Patidar nicked a wide delivery behind to the keeper. Jitesh and David hit a flurry of delightful boundaries to bring up RCB’s 200 and make Thursday a memorable day for the side and its fans.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 205/5 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 70, Devdutt Padikkal 50; Sandeep Sharma 2-45, Wanindu Hasaranga 1-30) beat Rajasthan Royals 194/9 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 49, Dhruv Jurel 47; Josh Hazlewood 4-33, Krunal Pandya 2-31) by 11 runs
