At the storied M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday, April 24, the hosts, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), defeated the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in an exciting victory in Match 42 of the ongoing IPL 2025. RCB won their first game of the current season after dropping their last three home games. A superb bowling display by Josh Hazlewood and an outstanding batting effort enabled RCB to pull away from loss.
Talking Points
1. The batting exploits of Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli’s bold start at the top gave RCB a strong start to their innings. Kohli batted brilliantly from his end, but Phil Salt, who scored 25 (23), struggled to get going. He received similarly good assistance from Devdutt Padikkal on the opposite end. Padikkal played an impressive 50(27), which included four fours and three sixes, while Virat hit 70 runs in 42 balls, with eight fours and two sixes.
2. The top four batters for the Rajasthan Royals excel once more.
RR had a fantastic first half as they chased 206. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a scorching 49(19) in his best knock of the season. While Nitish Rana and Riyan Parag scored 28(22) and 22(10) respectively, Vaibhav Suryavanshi struggled with his 16(12). Despite his 47(34) finish, Dhruv Jurel was unable to lead the Royals home. The visiting team almost won thanks to their knocks.
3. Josh Hazlewood’s outstanding bowling performance
One may argue that the difference between the two teams was Josh Hazlewood’s bowling. A dangerous-looking Jaiswal was removed by the right-arm pacer just before the powerplay overs ended. He then gave RCB a strong chance to defend the total by dismissing Shimron Hetmyer. Hazlewood gave up a single run and removed Dhruv Jurel and Archer on consecutive deliveries when 18 runs were required in the final 12 balls.
Who Said What?
Rajat Patidar, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Winning Captain)
That was a much-needed win. Today the wicket was different and all credit goes to the bowlers after the 10th over. The way they showed courage was tremendous. Initially they batted beautifully, credit goes to them as well. We were searching for wickets, when you get wickets only you can stop runs. I always back my instincts first but we have a team of great leaders and their inputs helps a lot. (if they have cracked the code finally to win at the MCS?) Yes (smiles).
Riyan Parag, RR (Losing Captain)
We did really well with the ball. I thought it was a 210-215 wicket, we held them back really well. Halfway through our innings we were in the driver’s seat. We’ve got ourselves to blame. Didn’t show enough intent against spinners. (How much of it is mental?) It does play a part but support staff has given us a lot of freedom and the onus is on us to go ahead and show that freedom and play freely. It’s a tournament where if you make a slight mistake, you’ll pay for it. We speak a lot as groups.
We try to be very honest with our conversations about how everyone was feeling in different situations. We’ve spoken about situations like this, just couldn’t execute it tonight. We’ve got to play for pride now. There are a lot of fans who support us. There are a lot of people who work really hard for us to come out here and play in a tournament like this. Have got to do it for them. Have to be very grateful and honoured to play this game and play for this franchise and we’ve got to show it next time we play.
Josh Hazlewood, Player of the Match
First of all was sticking to your strengths. Knew the hard length was tough to hit on this wicket, mixing it up with the odd yorker, the slower balls and the order in which to bowl them was the way to go. Opportunity to play the format, did not have the opportunity with Test cricket and then ODI cricket. First it is Sydney Sixers, CSK and now RCB, these are the three teams majorly and a bit for Australia as well.
Taking information from different pieces and putting it all together. One of the big keys for us is to get the information to the group as well. I love our bowling attack. I feel we have got every base covered, everyone has their days and we are doing well. The bounce is quite steep here throughout the whole tournament, getting that score was phenomenal. I feel that was well-above par and the guys did a really great job.
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