Courtesy: BCCI/IPL
On Thursday, April 24, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 11 runs, to register a comeback win in the match 42nd of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. After fifties from Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal helped RCB reach a big score of 205 runs in their batting innings, it was Josh Hazlewood’s four-wicket haul proving to be the difference-maker for the hosts.
For the unversed, the captain of RR, Riyan Parag, won the toss and decided to bowl first, but his decision didn’t prove to pay any dividends on a pitch assisting the fast bowlers early on. Jofra Archer bowled at high pace and generated extra bounce, but he didn’t have much luck while the RR bowlers sprayed it around, allowing the likes of Virat Kohli and Phil Salt, the openers of RCB, to stitch together a partnership of 61 runs in just 6.4 overs.
Wanindu Hasaranga picked up the key wicket of Phil Salt for 26 runs in 23 balls, but then, Devdutt Padikkal joined Virat Kohil in the middle, they kept the momentum of the RCB innings going, sharing a second wicket stand of 95 runs. After going past his 60th IPL fifty, Virat Kohli was dismissed for 70 runs in 42 balls with eight fours and two sixes on the bowling of Jofra Archer, who got just rewards at the start of his second spell for his good bowling.
Devdutt Padikkal reached his 50 in just 26 balls before losing his wicket to Sandeep Sharma, who also did for Rajat Patidar cheaply in the same over. The late impetus to the RCB innings was provided by the duo of Tim David and Jitesh Sharma with their quick-fire 20s, allowing their team to reach more than a formidable total of 205/5 in their allotted 20 overs.
In the run chase, RR got off to a flying start with their openers going after the RCB bowlers, especially Yashasvi Jaiswal. While teenage sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi got dismissed for 16 off 12, it was his opening partners’ fiery 49 off 19 with seven fours and three maximums, which set up a perfect platform for RR in the pursuit of the 205-run target, scoring 72/2 in the power play stage.
Captain Riyan Parag could go big as he was dismissed for 22 off just 10 on the bowling of Krunal Pandya in the 10th over, allowing RCB to get a foot in the door at the key stage of the contest before he got the better of Nitish Rana for 28 off 22. Dhruv Jurel found his touch after a slow start, scoring 47 off 34 with three fours and three sixes, but Josh Hazlewood picked up the key wicket of him on the third ball of the 19th over, leaving RR to get 17 runs in the last nine balls, which they weren’t able to do, losing wickets regularly in the last phase of their innings.
