Picture : IPL/ X
Royal Challengers Bengaluru powered by imperious Virat Kohli extracted sweet revenge as they beat Punjab Kings by 7 wickets in a Tata IPL 2025 encounter in new Chandigarh. Punjab had beaten RCB few days back in rain- hit tie by 5 wickets.
Put into bat by RCB Skipper Rajat Patidar. Punjab Kings were off to brisk start racing to 42 in 4. 1 . Opener Priyansh Arya 22 ( 15 balls , 3 fours, 1 six) promised much but was soon out . His fellow partner Prabhsimran Singh was aggressive too 33 ( 17 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) but he too could not go on. Both the openers were dismissed by Krunal Pandya .
Punjab Kings lost their way after a good beginning with wickets in the middle – Skipper Shreyas Iyer ( 6), last match hero Nehal Wadhera ( 5), Marcus Stoinis ( 1) . Josh Inglis 29 ( 17 balls , 2 fours, 1 six) . Shashank Singh struggled to score his runs not out 31 ( 33 balls, 1 four).
Marco Jansen used his long handle to score important runs an unbeaten 25 ( 20 balls , 2 sixes) as Punjab crawled to reach 157/ 6 in their 20 overs. RCB bowling was backed by superb ground fielding and they restricted the Punjab batting line- up.
RCB bowling : Bhuvneshwar Kumar 0/ 26 ( 4 overs) , Yash Dayal 0/ 22( 2 overs) , Krunal Pandya 2/ 25 got the breakthroughs ( 4 overs) , Josh Hazlewood 0/ 39 ( 4 overs) , debutant Romario Shepherd 1/ 18 ( 2 overs) , impressive Suyash Sharma 2/ 26 ( 4 overs)
In reply , RCB lost explosive opener Phil Salt early for 1 with the total at 6 . But a superb 103 run stand between Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal took the game away from Punjab kings .
Devdutt Padikkal was in full form and unleashed wide range of shots in his aggressive 61 ( 35 balls , 5 fours, 4 sixes) , RCB Skipper Rajat Patidar was out for 12.
But in from Virat kohli anchored the innings beautifully to hit another masterclass. Kohli was not out 74 ( 54 balls , 7 fours, 1 six) and along with Jitesh Sharma not out 11 ( 8 balls , 1 six) saw RCB home by 7 wickets . RCB finishing at 159/ 3 in 18. 5 overs.
Punjab Bowling : Arshdeep Singh 1/ 26 ( 3 overs) , Xavier Bartlett 0/ 28 ( 3 overs) , Harpreet Brar 1/ 27 ( 4 overs), Marco Jansen 0/ 20 ( 3 overs), Marcus Stoinis 0/ 13 ( 1 over) , Yuzvendra Chahal 1/ 36 ( 4 overs) , Nehal Wadhera 0/9 ( 0.5 balls)
Match: IPL 2025, 37th Match
Venue: Mohali | Date: April 20, 2025
