Bengaluru – In a nail-biting encounter at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) edged past Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 11 runs, registering their 6th win in 9 matches and jumping to 3rd place on the points table. Rajasthan, on the other hand, suffered their 7th loss in 9 games, slipping deeper into trouble this season.
RR won the toss and chose to field first. RCB posted a solid 205/5 thanks to stellar knocks from Virat Kohli (70 off 42) and Devdutt Padikkal (50 off 27). Phil Salt gave a decent start with 26 off 23, while Tim David (23)* and Jitesh Sharma (20)* ensured a strong finish.
Chasing 206, RR fought hard but could only manage 194/9. Yashasvi Jaiswal blasted 49 off just 19 balls, but once he departed, the chase slowly lost momentum. Dhruv Jurel kept the hopes alive with 47 runs, but a game-changing 19th over from Josh Hazlewood sealed the deal for RCB. He gave away just 1 run and picked 2 wickets in that over, including the crucial dismissal of Jurel. In total, Hazlewood bagged 4 key wickets, making him the unsung hero of the match.
Yash Dayal bowled the final over and removed Shivam Dube, crushing RR’s last hope.
Some Chilling Stats You Might’ve Missed:
- RCB’s win at Chinnaswamy was their first home win against RR since 2021.
- Hazlewood’s spell of 4/26 is his best in IPL since 2022.
- RR’s collapse from 171/4 to 194/9 in the last 18 balls shows how pressure breaks even the strongest batting line-ups.
- Virat Kohli is now the 2nd highest run-scorer in IPL 2025 so far.
