Royal Challengers Bengaluru came to Delhi with five consecutive wins, with most of them coming without much fuss. Probably the game against Mumbai Indians got a bit tricky towards the end for Rajat Patidar’s men.
Krunal Pandya held his nerve and delivered a fine 20th over against Mumbai Indians. Krunal Pandya played a different role last night and got the best away win of the season for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. RCB defeated DC by 6 wickets and moved to the top of the table. Delhi Capitals slumped to fourth in the points table.
Delhi Capitals – 162/8
Delhi Capitals’ innings never took off. The home team scored just 120 runs after 17 overs and somehow managed to cross 160, thanks to Tristan Stubbs’ 18-ball 34. KL Rahul, the player of the match in the previous meeting of the season, scored 41 off 39 balls. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/33 in 4) and Josh Hazlewood (2/36) were slightly leaning towards the expensive side, but they struck at vital moments. Bhuvneshwar Kumar became the 2nd leading wicket-taker in IPL with 193 wickets. Josh Hazlewood leads the purple cap race with 18 wickets.
The spinners, Krunal Pandya (1/28) and Suyash Sharma (0/22) didn’t take a lot of wickets, but stiffled the DC batters in the middle overs. Krunal Pandya’s 13 wickets in IPL 2025 are the most he has managed in his 10 IPL seasons. Krunal Pandya wasn’t done for the day yet.
Virat Kohli and Krunal Pandya’s century stand after early wobble
Royal Challengers Bengaluru were reduced to 26/3 inside the powerplay. Axar Patel’s twin strikes in the third over and Karun Nair’s accurate throw to dismiss RCB captain Rajat Patidar in the fourth over rocked the RCB boat. But they had Virat Kohli at one end. The best chase master and the local boy took the centerstage. Well, actually not. Virat Kohli took the backseat and let Krunal Pandya to be the aggressor and it paid them handsome dividends. Krunal scored his first IPL fifty in 9 seasons. Virat Kohli soon followed Krunal, scoring his 6th fifty of the season. The RCB great also became the leading run-scorer of the season, scoring 443 runs in 10 innings. Kohli got out in the penultimate ball of the 18th over, but the job was already done. Tim David’s 19* off 5 sealed RCB’s 6th consecutive away win of the season with 9 balls to spare.
In the history of the Indian Premier League, no team has ever managed to win all away games in the league stage. RCB’s finally away game of the season is on May 9 against the Lucknow Super Giants and it will be a keenly watched affair.
What’s next?
RCB have a five day gap before hosting Chennai Super Kings on May 3 (Saturday). DC have a quick turnaround and they are hosting Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday (April 29)