Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
On Sunday, April 27, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Delhi Capitals (DC) by six wickets, to register a comeback win in match 46 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. After a three-wicket haul from Bhuvneshwar Kumar which helped them restrict the hosts to 168/2 in 20 overs, fifty-plus scores from Krunal Pandya and Virat Kohli made the difference for the visitors, guiding them to their sixth win away from home.
For the unversed, the captain of RCB, Rajat Patidar, won the toss and decided to bowl first. Thus inviting the hosts to put the score first, Abishek Porel and Faf du Plessis got to a decent start, adding 20-plus scores respectively. However, after Abishek Porel’s wicket, the visitors quickly removed Karun Nair at the score of four. Once again, wicketkeeper-batter, KL Rahul looked good, scoring 41 off 39 deliveries to help the side get some competitive score on the board.
Tristan Stubbs too played a quickfire 18-ball 34 with the skipper scoring 15 runs off 13 deliveries. However, wickets kept falling at crucial intervals, DC eventually posted 162 in their allotted 20 overs. For RCB, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the key wicket-taker, chipping in with three, Josh Hazlewood scalped two whereas Yash Dayal and Krunal Pandya got a wicket apiece.
Krunal Pandya plays 47-ball 73 to help RCB go to top of IPL 2025 standings
In the run chase, RCB got to a decent start with Jacob Bethell joining Virat Kohli at the top of the batting lineup. However, the England international’s inning was cut short by Axar Patel, new batter in Devdutt Padikkal also departed in the following balls for a two-ball duck. Skipper Rajat Patidar, who was looking to stitch a decent partnership with Kohli, also fell to a brilliant run-out by Karun Nair after adding only six runs.
Krunal Pandya, the new batter to walk in, then stitched a 100-plus runs partnership with Kohli as both the batters scored their respective fifties and helped the side get closer to the target. However, Kohli was dismissed by Axar introducing Dushmantha Chameera into the attack, Tim David joined Krunal in the middle as former hit a quickfire five-ball 19 to help the side cross the finish line.
The win not only was RCB’s sixth straight win away from home in the IPL, it was also first of its kind in the tournament history. Moreover, with this six wicket win, RCB claimed the top spot in the IPL 2025 standings, displacing Gujarat Titans (GT) with 14 points to their name from 10 matches thus far. DC, on the other hand, dropped to fourth place after their third defeat in nine games.
