Courtesy: BCCI/IPL/X
In the 42nd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) got off to a fantastic start in the power play stage, scoring 59 runs without losing the wicket of their openers, Virat Kohli and Phil Salt. The batting wasn’t all that smooth sailing on a tough pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, where the RR bowlers got some pace and bounce, and despite that, the bowling plans were far from good from the visitors.
Jofra Archer bowled at high pace and generated extra bounce from the Bengaluru pitch, but he didn’t have much luck as the RCB openers managed to score 21 runs in his first couple of overs. But, rather than hitting the deck hard, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Tushar, Deshpande, and Sandeep Sharma ventured in the fuller length area of the pitch, allowing the likes of Virat Kohli and Phil Salt to pick them off easily.
Also, the drop catch from Riyan Parag on the bowling of Fazalhaq Farooqi when Phil Salt had faced just a handful of deliveries, didn’t help the cause of RR either.
Check out some of the reactions from fans after RR couldn’t pick up a wicket in power play stage versus RCB:
Below are the playing XI and impact player options of RCB and RR for their match 42nd in the IPL 2025:
RCB: Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Romario Shepherd, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal
Impact Player Options: Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh
RR: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag (c), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande
Impact Players Options: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kunal Singh Rathore
