A third straight match was ripped from RR’s hands by an unhittable 19th over from Hazlewood.RR Vs RCB
Rajasthan Royals 194 for 9 (Jaiswal 49, Jurel 47, Hazlewood 4-33, Krunal 2-31) were defeated by Royal Challengers Bengaluru 205 for 5 (Kohli 70, Padikkal 50, Sandeep 2-45) by 11 runs.
You would think that Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) would receive some domestic leniency from the toss gods at some point. However, the coin once more swung away from Rajat Patidar. But this time, their poor luck ended there as they recorded their highest home total of the season, 205 for 5. Despite all of it, RCB pulled off a stunning comeback to secure their first home victory of the 2025 IPL, and maybe their most dramatic victory at any location.
The Rajasthan Royals (RR) were the losing team going into this match after losing consecutive games in the last over. When Dhruv Jurel, who had clawed his way to 18 off 23, found his hitting range, their stress appeared to have subsided. In the 18th over, he and Shubham Dubey hammered 22 off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, bringing the equation down to 18 off 12.
Josh Hazlewood followed. With a brilliant 19th over with unhittably steep bounce, he was ice-cold in the moment, claiming two wickets of Jofra Archer and Jurel in consecutive deliveries while giving up only one run.
Last season, when they defeated the Chennai Super Kings at homelast season, it was up to Yash Dayal, the player who had maintained composure in a now-famous final over. And he did, as RR lost by 11 runs after holding the chase for a considerable amount of time.
The stadium at M Chinnaswamy exploded. With a long-overdue victory that placed them in the top three, RCB had at last found their voice at home. This was RR’s fifth consecutive defeat, putting them in danger.
The knockout blows of Hazlewood RR Vs RCB
When 17 was needed off ten, Hazlewood summoned a magical moment in which Dhruv Jurel formed a precise wide yorker to scythe but seemed to miss it. Patidar chose to write a caught-behind review with little conviction. What only Jurel would have known—a slight underedge that carried down to Jitesh Sharma—was confirmed by technology. A seemingly harmless dot became a strike that changed the course of the game.
RR’s best hope strolled back with Jurel, who had persevered through a sluggish start and was just starting to fire. Hazlewood, however, wasn’t finished. To give Archer more space, he turned up a hard-length ball close to him. Archer seems to have received a frigid dish of his own. Patidar pounced on the ball happily as it swelled to cover.
Hazlewood’s penultimate over was just as telling as his final over, which came on the 19th. He circled the wicket to Shimron Hetmyer and hammered the surface with ferocity after witnessing balls slanted over the left-handers vanish. Hetmyer attempted to push him away, but he was only able to give Jitesh a slight inside edge. That 17th over yielded just six runs, and RCB’s hold solidified.
Krunal screws them tight. RR Vs RCB
RR was cruising long before the mayhem of the death overs. Nitish Rana was delicately caressing the Chinnaswamy after Yashasvi Jaiswal had lit it up with a powerful 49 off 19. The chase appeared to be moving automatically at 110 for 2 in nine overs.
It’s here that Krunal Pandya was summoned and he delivered a breakthrough first ball when Riyan Parag, seeking to muscle a slog sweep, only got a top edge that settled into Jitesh’s gloves.
Suyash Sharma was similarly brilliant at the other end. He maintained the strain by alternating fast, skiddy legbreaks with the occasional wrong’un. RR Vs RCB Between the tenth and thirteenth overs, RR only managed one boundary. In the fourteenth, under increasing strain, Rana attempted a release shot, but Bhuvneshwar made a catch at short fine leg on the second try. Krunal’s current stats were 3-0-19-2. It was strangling.
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Padikkal and Kohli power the RCB.
After Phil Salt’s scratchy 26 off 23, half-centuries by Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal established a solid base, and a late run from Tim David and Jitesh took RCB to 205 for 5. After a shaky start, Kohli reached a cool fifty in thirty-two balls. Especially exciting was his early encounter with a furious Archer. Padikkal, meanwhile, scored a second consecutive half-century by taking advantage of two missed opportunities.
The platform was about to lift off when RR retaliated, dismissing Patidar, Padikkal, and Kohli in rapid succession. However, David and Jitesh finished the innings with a bang, scoring 42 runs in only 19 balls. Those final overs proved to be the difference between a defendable total and yet another heartbreak in a match that veered sharply from one side to the other.
