Live Report - Krunal fifty puts RCB in control

There is no late twist. Mukesh Kumar's attempted yorkers end up as a series of full-tosses and half-volleys, and Tim David finishes with 6, 4, 4, 4. RCB win with nine balls remaining, and Krunal Pandya, who has had an exceptional game with ball and bat, finishes unbeaten on 73 off 47 balls.

This is quite a moment. RCB needed 18 off 14 when Kohli went after a wide-ish legcutter from Dushmantha Chameera. Almost hits it well enough to clear long-off, but not quite, and Starc takes a well-judged running catch just inside the cushions.

Tim David walks in with RCB needing 18 off 13. Does this game have a late twist in it?

Two terrific fours off Mukesh in the 17th over, a flick off a yorker that's a touch too straight, angled into his feet, and then an open-faced steer off a much better yorker to find the gap to the left of backward point. RCB now need 26 off 18 balls.

Sixth of the season for Kohli. He gets there off his 45th ball, with a low full-toss from Mukesh Kumar that he whips to short fine leg for a single. It's not been the most fluent innings, but given the conditions, given RCB's target, and given how Krunal has gone at the other end, it's just what his team has needed.

This could be a costly miss. Krunal is batting on 54 when Mitchell Starc, bowling from left-arm around, angles a quick bouncer across him. Fails to control the pull, and Abishek Porel, running in off the midwicket boundary, gets both hands to the ball, and lets it spill.

RCB end that over, the 16th of their innings, at 125 for 3. They now need 38 off 24.

Krunal gets there with a sweeep for four off Axar Patel's last ball of the match. Axar had conceded just 10 runs and picked up two wickets in three powerplay overs. Comes back and bowls five tight deliveries before giving up this boundary off a leg-sidish delivery. He finishes with 4-0-19-2.

Krunal is now batting on 53 off 38 balls. He's scored 36 off his last 17 balls.

He was going at less than a run a ball for a long, long time, but he's hit three sixes now, all off the fast bowlers - one off Dushmantha Chameera in the 11th over, and two off Mukesh Kumar in the 13th, including a lovely hit over long-off against a good-length ball. He's moved to 39 off 32, and RCB now need 70 off the last seven overs, with seven wickets in hand.

Update Krunal hits another six in the 14th over, when Kuldeep floats one into his arc. This is a terrific innings, and RCB now need 58 from 36 balls.

Run-scoring has been a slog for RCB. Kohli is batting on 28 off 26, and Krunal Pandya on 17 off 21. The ball has barely come on to the bat, and one short ball from Vipraj Nigam that Kohli tried to pull lost so much pace off the pitch that it was on its way down when Kohli finally met it with his inside edge.

This won't be easy for RCB through the last 10 overs, but they're keeping wickets in hand, and the equation hasn't gotten out of hand yet.

RCB are in all sorts of trouble, and a Bengaluru boy who formerly played for them is contributing handsomely to it. It was KL Rahul the last time these teams met, and now it's Karun Nair.

Nair had taken a terrific catch, running in and diving forward, to send back Bethell. Now he delivers a stinging direct hit to send back Rajat Patidar. Kohli had stepped out to Mukesh Kumar and clipped the ball to the left of Nair at midwicket. Either he had taken another step with the intention of setting off for a single, or it was the momentum of stepping out of his crease, but either way, Patidar at the non-striker's end sets off in a hurry. By the time he turns around and puts in the dive, Nair has fired the ball towards the stumps at the bowler's end, and he catches him well short.

Jacob Bethell's first IPL innings is a short and exciting one. He flicks Mitchell Starc for a six and a four off successive balls in the second over, before he's done in by the slowness of the pitch, miscuing a pull off Axar Patel to deep midwicket in the third over.

Then Axar bowls Devdutt Padikkal two balls later, via an inside edge while looking to cut, and RCB are 20 for 2 in 2.4 overs.

Axar had bowled the first over of the innings, despite the presence of one left-hander at the crease. That already takes some bravery, but batters do tend to take a few balls to settle themselves. That Axar kept himself on to bowl the third was more remarkable. It's a gamble, and it's paid off with the wicket of not one but two left-hand batters.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood picked up five wickets between them, and Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya strangled with spin through the middle overs, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru sent Delhi Capitals in and restricted them to 162 for 8 on a two-paced pitch.

Abishek Porel struck the ball sweetly at the start to score 28 off 11 balls, and Tristan Stubbs made an innovative 34 off 18 at the finish, but DC’s other batters struggled, scoring just 96 off 92 balls between them. Faf du Plessis, returning from a groin injury and playing his first game since April 10, and KL Rahul struggled for fluency in particular, scoring 22 off 26 and 41 off 39 respectively.

Given the nature of the pitch, DC may not have been aiming too high in any case, but their efforts were hamstrung by two crucial moments.

First, just when Axar Patel was beginning to look dangerous, having slogged Krunal for a six in the previous over, Hazlewood came back and bowled DC’s captain in the 14th. This took some pressure off Suyash and Krunal – who may not have relished bowling to the left-handed Axar – and they finished their quotas by conceding a combined 13 runs across the 15th and 16th overs, against Rahul and a new-to-the-crease Stubbs.

Then, when Bhuvneshwar dismissed Rahul in the 17th, DC sent in Ashutosh Sharma as their Impact Player. They had named a bowler-heavy XI despite batting first, with the hope that they could bring in the extra bowler if their top order enjoyed a good day. As it happened, they were forced to bring in a batter, and he was out third ball, bowled by a legcutter from Bhuvneshwar.

Stubbs and Vipraj Nigam then provided the spark that DC had sorely lacked up to then, using the V behind the wicket smartly to collect a combined 36 runs across the 18th and 19th overs. Bhuvneshwar, though, cut short the fireworks with a superb 20th over, dismissing Stubbs and only conceding six runs (one of them off a leg-bye) despite bowling with an extra fielder inside the 30-yard circle with RCB having run into an over-rate penalty.

DC are 156 for 6 after 19 overs, and they've scored 36 off their last two overs. Yash Dayal goes for 19 now, and this over is full of brilliant ball-striking from Tristan Stubbs. A couple of powerful drives drilled down the ground, and a stunning reverse-scoop for six over short third. You'll notice that the first 4 in that sequence is a different colour, and that's because it came off overthrows - Rajat Patidar's throw, misfielded by Virat Kohli backing up.

Hazlewood is getting into the habit of bowling expensive overs against DC. This wasn't a bad over by any means, but there were a couple of smart bits of improvisation in it. First a shuffling scoop over short fine leg from Stubbs, and then a back-away ramp over third from Vipraj Nigam.

Slowish pitch, a bit of grip, and another batter takes on a straight boundary fielder in vain. This time it's a full slower ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Rahul holes out to long-off. Rahul goes for 41 off 39, and DC are 118 for 5 in 16.2 overs.

In walks Ashutosh Sharma, their Impact Player, replacing Faf du Plessis. RCB have already made their substitution, pulling off Suyash after four excellent overs for 22 runs, and bringing on Devdutt Padikkal.

Update: Ashutosh's innings lasts just three balls. Bhuvneshwar gets him as well, bowled, swiping across the line of a legcutter. DC are 120 for 6 in 16.5 overs.

Suyash and Krunal have bowled their respective fourth overs right after Hazlewood's dismissal of Axar, and both are boundary-free. DC have scored just 13 runs across the 15th and 16th overs, with Rahul and the new man Stubbs at the crease.

You'd think the two spinners would have been under a little more pressure if the left-handed Axar had been at the crease. Shortly before his dismissal, he had slogged Krunal for six over midwicket. Only Nicholas Pooran (56 off 12 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (46 off 12) have scored more runs with slog-sweeps and slogs against spin than Axar (32 off 10) in IPL 2025, according to our ball-by-ball logs.

DC are 117 for 4 in 16 overs, and Rahul is batting on 41 off 38 balls.

Excuse the cringeworthy pun. A crucial strike from Hazlewood, though, skidding one through an attempted slog from Axar Patel to hit the top of middle stump. RCB brought Hazlewood back into the attack for the 14th over, and he's made an impact again.

DC are 102 for 4 in 13.4 overs, and it's Tristan Stubbs who's walked in at No. 6, not Ashutosh Sharma. DC still want to keep open the option of bringing in the extra bowler, if possible.

Rahul, meanwhile, is batting on 31 off 29 balls. It's been partly down to a two-paced pitch, I think, but perhaps also a bit of conservatism - it's possible DC think they can defend something like 160 here.

A difficult comeback for Faf du Plessis, and he's dismissed while looking to release the pressure. Looks to launch Krunal down the ground, and can only pick out Kohli at long-on. There's a bit of grip on this pitch, and the straight boundaries at the Kotla are longer than the square boundaries, so it's a bit of risk trying to take on the straight boundary fielders unless it's right up in the slot. Axar Patel comes in to replace Faf.

DC are 72 for 3 in 10 overs now, and Krunal has 1 for 9 in two overs.

It'll be interesting to see how DC use their Impact Player. They've named a bowler-heavy XI despite batting first, with Vipraj Nigam slotted at No. 7 at the moment. Feels like they might bring Ashutosh Sharma in off the bench if they lose another wicket between now and the 15th-16th over. Hat tip to Deep Dasgupta and Sunil Gavaskar for bringing up the topic of their Impact Strategy on the broadcast.

Ashutosh is indeed padded up in DC's dugout.

DC have bigger names in this department, but RCB have a pretty good spin attack too. Before today, the two teams' spinners had similar records in IPL 2025: 20 wickets in nine games at 32.90 and an economy rate of 8.32 for DC; 18 at 32.27 and 8.54 for RCB.

Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya have begun very well here too. A bit of grip on this surface, and both have bowled quick and into the pitch and kept width at a minimum while giving away just 17 runs across the seventh, eighth and ninth overs. Watching Suyash this season, it feels like he's added a significant amount of pace to his legbreak, which is now properly skiddy and hard to hit square of the wicket.

Yash Dayal strikes with the fourth legal ball, and the sixth ball in all, of the fifth over. Gets his cutter to grip on this Delhi surface, and a ball that's already angling away from Karun Nair turns away further. Ends up slicing his pull high in the air to midwicket, and DC are 44 for 2.

Not the most godly of wickets, but RCB will be delighted, because Josh Hazlewood has sent back the dangerous Porel. Shortish ball down the leg side, and Porel only manages to glove his pull to the keeper. He's out for 28 off 11, and DC are 33 for 1. Faf, meanwhile, is batting on 5 off 11. He's hit the ball straight to the infielders on a number of occasions so far, and is yet to find fluency in his first game back in 17 days.

He flicked Bhuvneshwar Kumar for an effortless four off the first ball of the match, and he's simply carried on in that vein since, timing the ball gloriously and taking his chances without any hesitation. He's just hit his second six, a glorious pick-up flick-sweep off Bhuvneshwar in the third over, and he's now batting on 28 off nine balls. DC are 32 for no loss in three overs.

Rajat Patidar, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain, chose to bowl after winning the toss against Delhi Capitals. He expected the pitch to remain good to bat on through both innings, and was confident of his team’s ability to chase a target.

RCB were forced to make one change to their side, with a fever ruling out the opener Phil Salt. This meant they handed the England allrounder Jacob Bethell an IPL debut. It remained to be seen where Bethell, who bats left-handed and bowls left-arm orthodox spin, would bat, and whether he would take Salt’s place at the top of the order alongside local boy Virat Kohli.

DC welcomed back Faf du Plessis for the first time since he suffered a groin injury in the reverse fixture between these sides in Bengaluru on April 10. With du Plessis coming in for Ashutosh Sharma, DC had four overseas players in their XI again, after naming just three in their last match against Lucknow Super Giants.

Delhi Capitals: 1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Abishek Porel, 3 Karun Nair, 4 KL Rahul (wk), 5 Axar Patel (capt), 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Vipraj Nigam, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Mukesh Kumar.
Impact Player list: Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Madhav Tiwari, Tripurana Vijay.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Jacob Bethell, 3 Rajat Patidar (capt), 4 Romario Shepherd, 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Tim David, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Suyash Sharma, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal.
Impact Players list: Devdutt Padikkal, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Liam Livingstone, Swapnil Singh.