Chahal and Jansen limit RCB to 95 despite David's whirlwind fifty
RCB were reduced to 42 for 7 in the ninth over at one stage, but David smoked an unbeaten 26-ball 50
ESPNcricinfo staff
18-Apr-2025
Yuzvendra Chahal returned 2 for 11 off his three overs • BCCI
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 95 for 9 (David 50*, Jansen 2-10, Chahal 2-11, Arshdeep 2-23) vs Punjab Kings
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) had to wait close to two hours for the weather to clear in Bengaluru, but when it did, they were caught in a Punjab Kings (PBKS) storm.
At one stage, it seemed the hosts would get bowled out for their lowest total, but Tim David ensured that they nearly doubled 49 and weren't all-out in an innings shortened to 14 overs by rain.
For PBKS, the dream evening started with Shreyas Iyer winning the toss and electing to bowl. Arshdeep came into the game with two powerplay wickets in the season and he doubled that tally, dismissing both RCB openers on the pull.
Phil Salt went after a length ball and top-edged it towards square leg; Josh Inglis ran across to take the catch. Virat Kohli walked down to Arshdeep, who pulled his length short, to induce a splice to Marco Jansen over mid-on.
Rajat Patidar whipped Arshdeep and Xavier Bartlett for a four and a six over the leg side. Liam Livingstone tried to end the four-over powerplay on a high. He charged Bartlett and tried to slap a length ball over point, but skied it to Priyansh Arya just past the in-field.
RCB's batters continued to miscue big shots. Jitesh Sharma swung at Marco Jansen but was beaten both times. In the following over, Patidar top-edged a pull off Yuzvendra Chahal, which fell safely around the midwicket region. Jitesh was less lucky next ball as he found deep-backward square with a slog sweep.
Two balls later, Krunal Pandya was the third batter out on the pull. He couldn't extend his arms fully and feathered a shortish ball from Jansen onto his helmet and it popped right up. PBKS used a DRS to reduce RCB to 33 for 5.
Chahal, who was back to slowing his speeds and teasing the batter, struck again by looping the ball wide of Patidar's off stump and having him caught at long-off. RCB's ploy to send in Manoj Bhandage as the Impact Player didn't work as he was beaten on the flick by Jansen and dismissed lbw.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and David stitched a 21-run stand, which took RCB past fifty. Harpreet Brar dismissed Bhuvneshwar and Yash Dayal off successive balls, and the hosts were nine down in 11.5 overs, with the score on 63. David managed to find the boundary regularly though, first off Bartlett and then off Brar to reach fifty and lift RCB to 95 for 9.