Kohli, Hazlewood Help RCB End Home Winless Streak as RR Falter in Yet Another Chase

At some point, you'd expect the toss to go Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s way at home. But yet again, the coin didn’t fall in Rajat Patidar’s favour. This time, though, the bad luck stopped there. RCB overcame their early-season home struggles to post their highest total at the Chinnaswamy in IPL 2025—205 for 5—and held their nerve to pull off a thrilling 11-run win, their first at home this season and arguably their most dramatic win in recent memory.

The loss was another heartbreak for Rajasthan Royals, who entered the match having let two consecutive games slip away in the final over. For much of the chase, they looked on course. Dhruv Jurel, after a slow start, began to find his range, and his partnership with Shubham Dubey brought the equation down to 18 needed off 12 after smashing 22 off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 18th over.

Hazlewood the Ice Man

Enter Josh Hazlewood. The Aussie quick delivered a near-perfect 19th over, conceding just one run and taking the crucial wickets of Jurel and Jofra Archer off successive balls. Jurel’s dismissal came from a faint edge off a wide yorker—only confirmed after a successful review by Patidar. Moments later, Archer was undone by a steep bounce and hard length, lobbing the ball to cover where Patidar made no mistake.

Hazlewood’s penultimate over (the 17th) had already turned the tide. He went around the wicket to Shimron Hetmyer and cramped him with pace and bounce, forcing a feathered inside edge to Jitesh Sharma. Just six runs came from that over, tightening the screws on RR.

Yash Dayal Finishes the Job

With 17 needed off the final over, RCB turned once more to Yash Dayal—the same man who had closed out a tense win over CSK last season. He held his nerve again, ensuring RCB finally broke their home losing streak and climbed into the top three. For RR, it was a fifth straight defeat, leaving their playoff hopes hanging by a thread.

Krunal and Suyash Turn the Screws

Earlier in the chase, RR looked in complete control. Yashasvi Jaiswal blazed to 49 off 19 and Nitish Rana was anchoring smoothly. At 110 for 2 after nine overs, the target looked well within reach.

But Krunal Pandya’s introduction turned the tide. He struck first ball to remove Riyan Parag with a top-edged sweep, and followed it up with tight bowling that yielded 2 for 19 in his three overs. Legspinner Suyash Sharma complemented him well, using pace variations and mixing in wrong’uns to restrict RR’s scoring. Between the 10th and 13th overs, only one boundary was hit. Under mounting pressure, Rana miscued a sweep off Krunal, and RR began to unravel.

Kohli, Padikkal Set the Platform

Earlier, RCB were powered by fifties from Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal. Kohli notched his first home fifty of the season, overcoming a scratchy start to score a composed 50 off 32 balls. His early face-off with Jofra Archer lit up the stadium. Padikkal, benefitting from a couple of dropped chances, made it back-to-back fifties with a fluent knock.

Just as RCB looked poised for an explosive finish, RR struck to remove Kohli, Padikkal, and Patidar in quick succession. But a late flourish from Tim David and Jitesh Sharma—42 runs off 19 balls—took them past the 200-mark.

In a game that swung wildly, it was the poise of Hazlewood at the death, Krunal’s game-changing spell, and the late acceleration with the bat that proved decisive—securing RCB a long-awaited home victory, while RR were left wondering how another winning position slipped through their fingers.

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