Live Report - RCB clinch thriller for first home win at IPL 2025

Royal Challengers Bengaluru 205 for 5 (Kohli 70, Padikkal 50, Sandeep 2-45) beat Rajasthan Royals 194 for 9 (Jaiswal 49, Jurel 47, Rana 28, Hazlewood 4-33, Krunal 2-31) by 11 runs

At some point, you'd think the toss gods would show Royal Challengers Bengaluru a little mercy at home. But once again, the coin turned its back on Rajat Patidar. This time, though, the bad luck ended right there as they posted 205 for 5, their highest score at home so far. For all that, another heartbreak loomed, but RCB turned it around sensationally to clinch their first home win of the season and perhaps their most dramatic yet.

The tension seemed to have been diffused when Dhruv Jurel, having scratched his way to 18 off 23, found his hitting range as he tore into Bhuvneshwar Kumar to ransack 22 runs in the 18th over. The equation now read 18 off 12. RR had been here before and lost. Back-to-back games had slipped away in the final over.

Then came Josh Hazlewood. He was calm, clinical, and ice-cold in the moment, as he produced a masterful 19th over - just one run, and two wickets, including the dangerous Jurel and Jofra Archer first ball.

It was left to Yash Dayal, the same man who held his nerve in a now-legendary last over to deliver their previous home win, against Chennai Super Kings last season. And he delivered as the Royals were left floundering, eventually falling 11 short in a chase they had in their grasp.

The stadium erupted. RCB had finally found their voice at home and with it, a long-overdue win that put them in the top three. For RR, this was a fifth straight loss that leaves them on the brink.

It was a reluctant review to begin with. Perhaps only because RCB had a referral left.

Hazlewood was already back at the top of the mark, but the Chinnaswamy roars to life as they see a small spike on snicko, as Jurel attempts to scythe this wide yorker.

RCB still need 17 off 9. Jurel is gone for 47. And Archer goes next ball, courtesy extra bounce. Hazlewood on a hat-trick.

RR imploding again or what?

Down to 18 off 12.

Hazlewood concedes just seven, but importantly sees the back of Hetmyer with that typical back-of-a-length delivery that kisses the inside edge through to the keeper as it cramps him for room. RR need 40 off 18.

Jurel was on 18 off 23, having played 10 dots. He was struggling for timing. And then he gets two half-trackers, one apiece from Suyash and Krunal, that he sends sailing over deep midwicket for two sixes. And just like that, RR are back in the game. RR need 46 off 24.

As the run rate spirals over 11 an over, Rana decides to take Krunal on but can't pick him up and over the infield, as he hits one straight to Bhuvneshwar who takes it on the second attempt at short fine. RR 134/4, need another 72 off 39. For the record, just the one boundary so far since the start of the 10th over.

Rana's timing has suddenly gone off. Suyash concedes just four in a tight over that ends with Jitesh putting down a tough half-chance off Jurel as he attempted a cut.

He dismissed Parag first ball as a top-edge was safely pouched by Jitesh. He thought he had a second when Jurwl was given lbw second ball off an arm-ball, but replays show a tiny spike off an inside edge. Jurel saved by DRS. RR 113/3 in 10 overs. Need 93 more.

RR's win probability was at 76.78% at the start of the over. It's dropped to 61.9 at the end of it.

And he's doing so playing authentic cricket shots.

Yash Dayal has kept giving width and Rana has kept pummelling him through the line into the gap at extra cover.

At the moment, there seems to be no respite for RCB. RR 110/2 in 9 overs.

Edges, top-edges, slogs, hoicks - RCB are properly under the pump despite that Jaiswal wicket. Hasn't taken long for RR to wrest momentum. RR 99/2 in 8 overs.

After being taken for 4, 6, 6, he goes around the wicket and cramps Jaiswal who is through with the pull as he lobs a catch to midwicket. Hazlewood puts his hand up and points Jaiswal towards the dressing room. Jaiswal looks back and has a few words as he storms off. The umpires step in to have a word with Patidar. It's all happening. Jaiswal gone for 49 off 19. RR 72/2 in 6 overs.

A quiet pump of the fists in the air to celebrate RCB's first wicket, but not before RR raised their 50 in just 4.1 overs. One ball after a top-edge for six over fine leg, Suryavanshi tries to clear his front leg and loft one over covers, but misses Bhuvi's subtle change of pace with the knuckleball - gone!

But what matters is what's on the scoreboard. He's on 35 off 14.

Off his first three balls, Hazlewood had Jaiswal ducking, slashing and missing.

Off the next three, he picks three fours. One of those is a mishit that eludes midwicket, but the other two are absolutely smashed.

RR 46/0 in 4 overs.

After being hoicked for six by Vaibhav Suryavanshi off the second ball of his second over, Bhuvneshwar returns to concede just two off the next four. RR 34/0 in three overs.

He hits two fours and a towering six over deep midwicket in an 18-run over off Yash Dayal as RR have made their intentions very clear. 26/0 in 2 overs. The first of those fours was off a leading edge that flew over a wide slip.

RCB’s luck at the toss continued to elude them—losing their fourth straight at home—but they did most other things right. Powered by half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal, and capped off by a brisk late surge from Tim David and Jitesh Sharma, they rallied to a commanding 205 for 5 against Rajasthan Royals - the highest total batting first so far at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Rajasthan Royals might reflect on their bowling effort through two contrasting lenses. Did they do enough to make RCB leave a few runs behind? Or will look back at the finish and wonder if they could’ve kept RCB below 190, especially after having picked 3 for 7, including both set batters, between overs 15-17?

“The surface was a little sticky, I feel it’ll be challenging in the second innings,” Padikkal observed at the mid-innings chat with Murali Kartik. “Last few games we haven’t batted particularly well on this pitch, it was important we [him and Virat Kohli] ran hard in the middle.

“The last couple of years haven’t been great, I worked hard on myself - mentally and tactically - to bring out my A game this season. DK [Dinesh Karthik] and Andy [Flower] around has been great. The amount of work I’ve done with DK, the knowledge and tactical insights he has brought has been tremendous.”

RCB’s innings began with Phil Salt falling early, attempting to slog-sweep Wanindu Hasaranga. Reprieved on 1 by Riyan Parag at mid-off, Salt was far from his menacing best and managed a middling 26 off 23. By the time he was out, RCB were 61 for 1 in 6.4 overs.

Kohli started scratchily - his first two fours off a fiery Jofra Archer coming under fortuitous circumstances. After he managed to lob one off the gloves over slips, he got a thick inside edge that shaved past leg stump for four. He put those two streaky boundaries behind him to hit a third when he whipped Archer through square leg.

Unlike in the previous home games where Kohli had been looking to hit out from get go, he was a lot more measured this time, bringing up his half-century off 32 deliveries before accelerating. It helped that Padikkal was in sparkling form at the other end.

Padikkal had his chances too. On 28, he was dropped at deep backward square by Tushar Deshpande, who had a nightmare time - conceding 36 from his two wicketless overs. Then on 36, he was put down by Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps when he attempted a cut off Parag. Padikkal eventually raised his second straight half-century.

Just as RCB were about to launch, Archer struck when he had Kohli mistime a lofted hit to a slower length ball to cover. Sandeep Sharma, who had endured two nightmare games, then had a double-wicket over when he dismissed Rajat Patidar and Padikkal in the same over. This is when David and Jitesh got together - putting together 42 in just 3.1 overs to give RCB the finish they needed.

With the ball, Sandeep Sharma has been off-colour in the last two games. He conceded 19 in a momentum-turning final over against DC and then went for 55 in four overs in their game against LSG. They persisted with him here and he's bowled a superb 17th - the two big scalps are of Padikkal and Patidar. Will it halt RCB's momentum?

As he'd done in his first spell, Archer returns to hit one into the pitch. This one's a slower delivery, so there's a big more grip. Kohli looks to hit through the line but lofts it straight to Nitish Rana at extra cover. He's out for 70 off 42.

Tim David, not Rajat Patidar, in at No. 4 with less than five overs remaining.

This is in addition to the 14 runs in his first over and a reprieve to Padikkal on 28. RCB 156/1 in 15 overs.

This time on 36, Padikkal is dropped by Jurel behind the stumps as he attempts to back away and cut. Kohli adds insult to injury by backing away to flat-bat Parag over the sight screen despite having appeared to have not hit it as well as he would've liked.

After a nightmare first over, Deshpande hasn't had a lot to do on the field. But when a chance finally comes his way, he puts down a tough catch at deep backward square to reprieve Padikkal on 28.

Hasaranga got the ball to bounce off a length and had Padikkal top-edge a sweep. It seemed as if Deshpande was late to move from the boundary line; by the time he got to the ball, it was dying on him.

RCB 119/1 in 13 overs.

Sandeep Sharma has dismissed Kohli the most times in the IPL.

While RR will be over the moon to see him dismiss Kohli again, it appears as if Sandeep's job here is to keep things quiet. He's bowling his slower length deliveries into the pitch to try and have Kohli drag them to the leg side.

After one mistimed pull, Kohli decides it's time to back away and try to carve behind poin. And he does just that to raise RCB's 100, as well as a half-century off the very next delivery. Gets there off his 32nd delivery - it's his fifth fifty this season

RCB 109/1 in 12 overs.

After Siraj, Rahul & Chahal, will RR find an ex-RCB hero?

Hasaranga, RCB's highest wicket-taker in 2022, has struck in his very first over as he has Salt holing out to deep midwicket. He slowed it down beautifully, and forced him to slog-sweep against the turn. Salt only managed more elevation and not distance.

RCB 61/1 in 6.4 overs.

As soon as he bowled the over, Hasaranga quickly rushed off the field clutching his shoulder. He's currently getting attention from the physio.

He hasn't taken a cue from what Archer did. Each of his three full balls have been punished. RCB 51/0 in 5 overs.

Kohli’s first four was off the glove and over the slips.
His second, a thick inside edge that shaves past leg stump.

Having had the slices of luck, Kohli uses his wrists and bottom hand to whip another short ball through square leg for a third boundary.

Every ball delivered by Jofra has been an event. Yet, his figures read 2-0-21-0. Where's the justice, cricket gods?

RCB 28/0 in 3 overs.

On 1 off 5, Salt toe-ends a low full toss from Farooqi to Parag, who tumbles around and puts down a chance at mid-off. He had the ball in his hand, until he lost control when he turned over. Will Salt make RR pay?

Every single ball in that first over from Archer was banged into the pitch, short of length or short. To have both Salt and Kohli on the hop.

The first ball Kohli faced was a 150kph thunderbolt that missed everybody, and flew over the keeper's head. Exhilarating stuff.

Despite batters struggling to come to grips with the pace and bounce, RCB still have 11 from the first over. Kohli's first boundary was fortuitous - the ball lobbed over the slips off the glove into the third man boundary.

When Jofra Archer and Phil Salt last crossed paths in Jaipur, it was a fiery duel. Archer laid the trap - short, sharp and relentless - and Salt, ever the aggressor, took the bait more than once and took Archer down. Since then, Salt has twice fallen in the first over to the short ball, both times to Arshdeep Singh. As round two with Archer looms, the question lingers: will Salt back himself to go for it despite those two reversals against Arshdeep?

Each of their three defeats in Bengaluru has followed a similar pattern: loss toss, put in on difficult tracks, loss of early wickets or a collapse leading to below-par totals the struggle to defend against dew.

Liam Livingstone and Tim David are their only batters with a half-century at home this season. They have had nine 50-plus scores away. At home, RCB's top six averages just 13.94, the lowest across all teams this season, and their collective strike rate of 117.28 is the second lowest.

Here's what Patidar made of the situation at his first press conference as RCB captain.

Rajat Patidar lost his fourth successive toss in a row at home as RCB were put in to bat yet again, this time by Rajasthan Royals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Riyan Parag, RR's stand-in captain, announced one change: Afghanistan left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi replaced Sri Lanka spinner Maheesh Theekshana.

RCB are unchanged from the XII that beat Punjab Kings away three days ago.

Patidar hoped his batters would use their experience of having batted here earlier to adapt quickly and be better with their shot selection.

Parag hoped the past trend of the surface getting better to bat on in the second innings continues.

RCB XI: Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (capt), Romario Shepherd, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal

Impact Players list: Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh

RR XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Dubey, Shimron Hetmyer, Waning Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi, 11 Tushar Deshpande

Impact Players list: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yudhvir Singh, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kunal Singh Rathore