RCB seize thriller against RR to break the home curse in IPL 2025

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally swept off the home curse as they edged past Rajasthan Royals in a thrilling chapter to secure their sixth win of the IPL 2025 season. The game oscillated continuously and eventually needed a very special 19th over from Josh Hazlewood to tip the scales over in the hosts’ favour.

Winning the toss, RR opted to bowl first. RCB looked a different side at Chinnaswamy as Phil Salt and Virat Kohli got off to a decent start. A couple of edges and miscued hits did leave RCB jittery but then they soon weathered the early storm and started fathoming the surface well.

Salt (26) played the anchor while Virat Kohli (70) took the role of the aggressor in a surprise reverse card. However, the trick worked as the opening duo piled up 61 runs before Wanindu Hasaranga could get the better of the English opener.

However, that did very little to dampen the RCB spirits as Devdutt Padikkal stepped up and rolled comfortably alongside Virat to keep the wheels in motion. Padikkal smashed his second consecutive half-century, adding 95 runs for the second wicket with Virat Kohli to bolster RCB’s hold over the game. Much to RCB’s woes, they lost three quick wickets in the middle to drop some crucial momentum ahead of the death overs.

Kohli, Padikkal (50) and Rajat Patidar (1) were back to the pavilion in no time as RCB had to rebuild a mini-pedestal for themselves before they could go firing again on all cylinders. Jitesh Sharma (20*) and Tim David (23) added 42 runs in the last 19 balls to propel the hosts to a staggering 205/5 at the end of their 20 overs.

Chasing 206 and with five losses on the trot, Rajasthan needed something special from their opening duo. Yashasvi Jaiswal (49) hunkered down to business straightaway while a young Vaibhav Suryavanshi who came on as an impact player looked good for his sojourn in the center.

With the scoring rate soaring, Suryavanshi (16) wanted to keep on swinging at the bowlers and that is what opened up a window of opportunity for RCB. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s experience allowed him to go slow into the deck and that breached the defences of Vaibhav as his furniture was shattered.

An incoming Nitish Rana didn’t drop his eyes off the ball and looked in cruise control alongside a well-set Jaiswal. Jaiswal’s tornado finally came to an end when another slower bouncer from Hoff took him by surprise and he holed out straight to Romario Shepherd at mid-wicket.

Riyan Parag (22) came in with an objective in his mind while Nitish Rana gave him good company. The duo quickly added 38 runs for the third wicket as RR were cruising at 110/2 from just nine overs. Eventually, it was RCB’s crisis man, Krunal Pandya, who chimed in with the prized scalp of RR’s skipper as he skied one and Jitesh settled comfortably underneath.

Rana (28) was a goner in quick succession too as Bhuvneshwar Kumar grabbed a decent catch after a couple of wobbles off Krunal Pandya’s bowling. Shimron Hetmyer (11) couldn’t make the most of what was a perfectly set stage for his swashbuckling display as Josh Hazlewood proved to be too tricky for him to handle.

It was Dhruv Jurel (47) who changed the game again for Rajasthan Royals. That one over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar saw RCB conceding 22 runs, thereby reducing the equation to 18 runs off 12 balls, which is deemed as a cakewalk in T20 cricket. That is when magic happened.

RCB’s very own Kal-El, Josh Hazlewood stepped up and after conceding a single on the first ball, he followed that with a dot. Third ball in, he darted in with a wide yorker and there was a very gentle nick off Jurel’s bat and a referral ensured that Jitesh had pouched a clean grab behind the stumps. The following delivery saw him banging in a shorter one and the extra bounce unsettled an incoming Jofra Archer. He holed out to Rajat Patidar for a golden duck.

Hazlewood conceded only a single run from that over, leaving 17 to be chased. Yash Dayal stepped up and he ensured that by no means, RR was making it happen with a show of regimented discipline laced with some terrific field work by Tim David and a magnificent piece of wicket-keeping by Jitesh. RCB went on to win the game by 11 runs and Josh Hazlewood won the Player of the Match award.