On Sunday, April 20, Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Punjab Kings in the rematch of Match No. 37 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, effectively exacting their Chinnaswamy retribution. With — balls remaining, the visitors successfully chased down the total, proving that the Rajat Patidar-led team had made the right choice in fielding first.
With this decisive victory, RCB has already achieved their fifth victory of the season and continued their winning streak away from home. Jitesh Sharma’s game-winning six in the mid-wicket area gave the Royal Challengers the victory and moved them up to third place in the IPL 2025 Points Table. The Player of the Match award went to the undefeated Virat Kohli.
Talking Points
‘Kunal’ Pandya once again demonstrates his worth
All-rounder Krunal Pandya has been more than good with the ball in his hands, but RCB hasn’t really needed his skills with the bat as the world continues to move towards the Impact Player rule. He dismissed both of the Punjab openers in consecutive overs, demonstrating that he was a little too brutal during his four-over stint. However, his incredible catch at long-on, where he raced and dived a considerable distance to execute a fantastic take in the end, was the day’s high point. He had the dangerous Shreyas Iyer go back to the pavilion rather cheaply. After his stay, his bowling numbers were 4-0-24-2.
2. Lockdown memories are brought back by Kohli-DDP
The two most important cogs in RCB’s top order during the IPL 2020 and 2021 were Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal, who both finished among the team’s top run scorers with 400 or more runs in each season. The RCB supporters relished the lockdown recollections from this game. Padikkal scored 61 off 35 balls at Mullanpur, and Kohli also achieved another half-century and led the Bengaluru-based team to an outstanding run chase.
3. The playoff race heats up
As the tournament enters its halfway stage, the race to the playoffs has become even more competitive, with RCB now sitting in third place on the table and the top five teams each holding ten points. Gujarat Titans, under the leadership of Shubman Gill, are in first place, whereas Punjab, who have the same number of points, are in fourth place. As of the end of Match No. 37, the Delhi Capitals are in second place and the Lucknow Super Giants are in fifth place.
What Was Said by Who?
Rajat Patidar, RCB captain, said
Credit goes to the bowlers. Devdutt Padikkal and Kohli, the way they executed their plans. The bowlers chipped in at different stages, the way they executed their plans, it was beautiful. Had to bowl tight lines as the wicket was a little slow. That was the message to all the bowlers. We had a chat last night about our fielding. Everyone put in their efforts and that was beautiful. I want to win a toss there (Chinnaswamy). We will try to play good cricket at our home ground, we will try to rectify our mistakes there.
Shreyas Iyer, PBKS captain, said
Just a minor niggle, should be fine after this game. If you see the majority of our batters like to go from ball one, we’ve struggled to assess the wicket when we bat first. Otherwise we’ve not been able to capitalise on the starts we’ve been getting. We weren’t able to set a total we could defend. If you see the positives, we got a great start, the bowlers have been doing a tremendous job. Credit to Virat and the boys, they played well. We keep talking about adapting to the wicket, once the ball gets old it doesn’t skid off the wicket that well.
Both of them (openers) are great strokemakers, it’s hard for them to comprehend if you tell them to slow down. Need to take the bull by the horns and see to it that we get a good total on the board for the bowlers. I’m in a great mindspace, I just need to cross 10 runs and I can take on the charge. Don’t want to give reasons, want to stay in the present as much as possible. We’ve got six days off, important that we go back to the drawing board, also important we rejuvenate and refresh, need to make sure we’re in the best shape possible before the next game.
Virat Kohli, Player of the Match, said
Very important game for us. 2 points can make a massive different in terms of qualification. We have played some amazing cricket away from home. When you go from eight to ten (points), it makes a massive difference in the points table. The mindset has to get 2 points in every game. I wanted to accelerate more. I thought Dev made a difference today, this award should go to him, I don’t know why they have given it to me. I try to stay there, holding one end up and try to accelerate later.
There always is a temptation to keep going in the same way. Last game was a shortened game, so we had to go hard (against PBKS.) We had to analyse the pitch in Rajasthan. One partnership is good enough in T20 cricket during run chase. I can accelerate, but I want to understand the strengths of other players. Holding one end up at the moment, that’s working for us. It was a very good auction for us, we got a good team. These guys were composed (after the auction.) Guys like David, Jitesh, Patidar, the roles they are playing.
It’s coming off nicely. Also Romario coming in for us today. Livingstone’s also there. That was missing over the last seasons. Guys can keep counter-attacking, the guys are hungry. You can see that intensity on the field as they are diving around. That is really pleasing to see. When you play like that, your chances of winning are better.
India
