Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal starred with the bat, while Josh Hazlewood’s four for 33 helped RCB end their home jinx at the Chinnaswamy stadium with an 11-run win. This was Bengaluru’s first win in their fourth home game as RR were left once again scratching their heads as to how they lost a game right at the end.
Kohli and Padikkal’s 105-run stand powered the hosts to 205 in their 20 overs. However, RR looked to be in cruise control as Yashasvi Jaiswal’s early fireworks had set them on track for a memorable run-chase. However, just like the DC and LSG losses before this one, the chase completely went off the tracks as they went from 110 for two to 191 for nine. This was the Royals’ fifth straight loss of the campaign as their season is slowly coming to a painful end.
The toss on the day was won by RR as Rajat Patidar’s woes with the coin flip continued. Riyan Parag felt that the wicket would be a sticky one and opted to field first. The RCB innings started in streaky fashion as Jofra Archer was finding bounce and was troubling Phil Salt and Kohli.
The next few overs remained cagey for RCB before Kohli was able to hit a couple of boundaries off Archer in the third over. Salt also joined in on the action with a couple of boundaries off Tushar Deshpande and Kohli added one more to make it 14 from the over.
RCB put on 59 runs in the powerplay, the third time they didn’t lose a wicket in the first six overs in IPL 2025. Riyan turned to old RCB man Wanindu Hasaranga right after the powerplay was done and he delivered the wicket of Salt immediately. After a few deliveries of consolidation for the home team, Kohli and Padikkal started to take on the RR bowlers. Kohli got to his fifty with a couple of boundaries off Sandeep Sharma and Padikkal finished the over with another boundary as the home team started to put the foot on the pedal.
Padikkal got a lifeline in the 13th over as Deshpande couldn’t hold on to a catch, and he made RR pay for it. Padikkal and Kohli started to deal in sixes as they got 22 off Deshpande’s second over as RCB went from 94 in 11 overs to 156 in 15 and Padikkal added another fifty to continue his resurgence in IPL.
RR clawed their way back as Archer came in to dismiss Kohli for 70 off 42 balls. Padikkal was dismissed in the very next over for 50 off 27 balls as the Royals felt that they could restrict RCB to below 200. The wicket of Rajat Patidar added to their confidence as RCB were 167 for four in 17 overs.
Tim David and Jitesh Sharma, who are working as finishers for Bengaluru this season, started to build again and push the score towards 200. They were helped in the 19th over bowled by Sandeep Sharma, as they got 16 runs. Archer’s final over saw a boundary being hit as RCB went past 200, and their innings ended at 205 for five.
Now if you thought RR will die wondering, Yashasvi Jaiswal had other ideas. The Royals opener started the run-chase with a huge six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. However, he and Vaibhav Suryavanshi were streaky at the start as a lot of miscues followed.
Jaiswal continued to attack and he hit two boundaries and a six off Yash Dayal as RR got a move on. Suryavanshi also joined in with a six off Bhuvneshwar as RR reached 34 off 3 overs. Josh Hazlewood was called in to the attack and he attacked Jaiswal with three beautiful deliveries. However, bringing back memories of his Perth hundred during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Jaiswal took the attack to Hazlewood and hit him for a hat-trick of boundaries.
Suryavanshi got another six before he was cleaned up by Bhuvneshwar as RCB thought they were coming back into the contest. However, RR were clear with their intentions and Nitish Rana also continued the attack with a six.
Jaiswal was approaching a well-made fifty as he took apart Hazlewood once again with two boundaries and a six. The Australian had the last laugh in the end as he bowled a slow bouncer that made Jaiswal play a false shot and get caught.
But Jaiswal played his part as RR scored 72 from the powerplay, their best score ever against RCB in the first six overs in IPL. Rana and captain Riyan were determined that they wanted to keep the accelerator pressed down as they took down Romario Shepherd for 15 runs and then followed it with 12 runs in Suyash’s first over.
RR reached 100 by 8.1 overs and Dayal was hit for two back-to-back boundaries by Rana as RR looked to be in pole position at 110 for two in 9 overs. Krunal Pandya, the man with the golden arm for RCB this season, got the breakthrough with his very first ball as Riyan was sent back to the pavilion.
He thought he got another one as Dhruv Jurel was adjudged to be lbw before a review saved the RR batter. RCB slowly built pressure and Krunal got the wicket of Rana as RCB seemed to wrestle control in the contest.
Jurel needed to start going after the bowling and he broke the shackles with a six off Suyash as 58 was needed off the final five overs. The Indian batter got another six off Krunal as the pressure seemed to be coming off the Royals. Or so we thought. The next over from Hazlewood saw him dismiss the dangerous Hetmyer as RCB once again took control.
Jurel once again started Bhuvneshwar’s last over with a six and Shubham Dubey followed it with another maximum. Jurel took the onus on him and got two boundaries to make it 22 off the over as the equation came to 18 off two overs.
Hazlewood then turned the game with a stroke of luck as a review got the wicket of Jurel, who scored 47. He then got the wicket of Archer as RR started to crumble at the Chinnaswamy stadium. Dayal saw off things with the wicket of Hasaranga to sent the RCB fans into rapture and they moved to third on the points table.
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