Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
On Sunday, April 20, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by seven wickets in match number 37 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. In what was a return fixture of the recently held match between the two sides, the Bengaluru-based franchise came out on top as they chased the 158-run target with seven balls to spare.
For the unversed, after winning the toss, Rajat Patidar, the captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, decided to bowl first. While the PBKS openers, Priyansh Arya (22 off 15) and Prabhsimran Singh (33 off 17) gave a brisk start at the top of the order, both fell to Krunal Pandya’s attack with Tim David taking comfortable catches at long-on. Shreyas Iyer, the PBKS skipper, also could not make much of an impact with the bat as he departed having scored six off 10 deliveries.
Josh Inglis and Nehal Wadhera then looked to stitch a crucial partnership, but the latter fell to a terrible mix-up, courtesy a brilliant effort from Tim David, Virat Kohli and Jitesh Sharma. Thereafter, Shashank Sharma (31 off 33) and Marco Jansen (25 off 20) played key role to help cross the 150-run mark, and finally post 157/6 in their 20 overs.
RCB chase 158-run target in 18.5 overs; jumps to third place in IPL 2025 points table
In the run-chase, Phil Salt, the RCB opener was dismissed in the very first over, scoring just one off three deliveries. Thereafter, Virat Kohli was joined by Devdutt Padikkal and the duo stitched a 103-run partnership off just 69 balls before the latter was dismissed for 61. Skipper, Rajat Patidar added key 12 runs in the run-chase and was dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal.
Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma joined Kohli in the middle and hit match-winning runs as the duo then crucise RCB to victory with seven balls to spare and seven wickets in hand. With this win, RCB jumped to the third place in the IPL 2025 points table whereas PBKS dropped down to fourth place.
Get real-time IPL scores, expert match predictions, and expert fantasy tips exclusively on SportsTiger!
