RCB vs RR, IPL 2025 Highlights: Virat Kohli, Josh Hazlewood star in RCB’s first home win of the season

RCB vs RR, IPL 2025 Highlights: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) registered their first victory at home this season with a 11-run win against Rajasthan Royals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday. Chasing a 206-run target, the Royals managed 194/9 in 20 overs.

RCB’s second successive win in the tournament and their double against the Royals took them to the third spot in the points table.

Here are the five points that made the difference between victory and defeat:

Virat Kohli leads from the front:

Virat Kohli may no longer be the RCB skipper, but he is the driving force behind the RCB resurgence this season. Virat is the highest run scorer for RCB this season and against the Royals, the former captain notched up a fifty off 32 balls – his fifth 50-plus score in 9 innings this season.

Kohli smashed 2 sixes and 6 fours in his 42-ball 70 before he was dismissed by Jofra Archer in the 16th over of the RCB innings.

Padikkal’s support act:

Devdutt Padikkal played the support role to Kohli’s masterclass with aplomb. Padikkal put up a 95-run stand with Kohli for the second wicket to take RCB over the 150-run mark.

Padikkal hit 3 sixes and 4 fours in his 27-ball 50 before he was dismissed by Sandeep Sharma in the 17th over of the RCB innings.

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RCB’s strong finish:

Tim David and Jitesh Sharma put up a quickfire 42-run stand in the last 4 overs of the innings to take RCB over the 200-run mark. David smashed a six and 2 fours in his 15-ball 23, while Jitesh struck 4 fours in a 10-ball 20.

RCB vs RR

The Royals flying start:

Chasing a 206-run target against RCB, the Royals needed a strong start to their run chase and their openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi provided just that.

Jaiswal smashed the first ball of the run chase he faced from Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six to set the stage for a flying start.

Both the left-handed openers went hammer and tongs before Suryavanshi was clean bowled by Bhuvneshwar after hitting 2 sixes in his 12-ball 16.

Jaiswal fell in the next over to Josh Hazlewood, but not before smashing a 19-ball 49 that was studded with 3 sixes and 7 fours.

RCB vs RR

Josh Hazlewood’s double-wicket over:

Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the RCB bowlers taking 4/33 off his 4 overs. The Royals were very much in the game with Dhruv Jurel and Shubham Dubey at the crease, with the score at 188/5. But Hazlewood’s last over of his spell turned the match in RCB’s favour. The Aussie pacer first dismissed Jurel (47) and on the next ball got rid of Jofra Archer for a first ball duck.

The double strike was too much to handle for the Royals and Shubham Dubey (12) fell on the first ball of the next over. Hazlewood, who had conceded 26 runs off his first spell of 2 overs, more than made up for it at the death giving away just 7 runs off his last 2 overs. And not to forget his 2 wickets each of his spells.