• Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally ended their home drought at the Chinnaswamy Stadium with a thrilling 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025.

  • Josh Hazlewood was named Player of the Match for his excellent spell of 4/33.

IPL 2025: Fans roar in delight as Virat Kohli and Josh Hazlewood power RCB to break Chinnaswamy jinx with thrilling win over Rajasthan Royals
Virat Kohli and Josh Hazelwood (Image Source: X)

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Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally ended their home drought at the Chinnaswamy Stadium with a thrilling 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. A dominant 105-run partnership between Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal powered RCB to a solid 205/5. In reply, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s explosive fifty gave RR a flying start before Josh Hazlewood’s 4/33 turned the tide. Despite late fireworks from Dhruv Jurel, RR collapsed from 110/2 to 191/9. This marked RR’s fifth straight loss, denting their playoff hopes significantly.

Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal’s masterclass lays strong foundation

Sent in to bat after losing the toss, RCB were off to a steady yet cautious start. Jofra Archer’s early spell troubled both Kohli and Phil Salt, but the RCB skipper broke the shackles in the third over, finding boundaries off the England pacer. RCB posted 59 without loss in the powerplay, their third such instance this season. Once Salt fell to Wanindu Hasaranga right after the powerplay, Kohli and Padikkal began to assert themselves. The pair accelerated masterfully, going from 94 in 11 overs to 156 in 15, punishing Tushar Deshpande for 22 runs in an over. Despite losing both set batters in successive overs, Kohli to Archer and Padikkal to Sandeep Sharma, RCB’s finishers, Tim David and Jitesh Sharma, ensured a strong close. With 16 runs coming off the 19th over and a boundary off the last, RCB ended with a competitive 205 for five.

Yashasvi Jaiswal’s blitz keeps the Rajasthan Royals in chase early on

RR’s chase got off to a fiery start thanks to Jaiswal, who took the attack to RCB bowlers early with a six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar and multiple boundaries off Yash Dayal and Hazlewood. His aggressive intent took RR to 72/0 in the powerplay, their highest powerplay score against RCB. Jaiswal smashed Hazlewood for three boundaries in one over, then later for a six and two more boundaries before falling for a brilliant 52 off 24 balls. His dismissal, though, came at a crucial time, courtesy of Hazlewood’s slower bouncer. Despite the setback, Riyan Parag and Nitish Rana took over the charge, propelling RR to 110/2 in 9 overs.

Also READ: IPL 2025: Virat Kohli creates T20 history at Chinnaswamy with yet another milestone during RCB vs RR clash

RCB’s spinners and Josh Hazlewood flip the script

Krunal Pandya made an immediate impact, dismissing Parag and later removing Rana, triggering a middle-over slowdown. Though Dhruv Jurel tried to fight back with two sixes off Suyash and Krunal, RCB’s bowlers, especially Hazlewood, kept pegging back at crucial moments. Hazlewood struck again in the 18th over, removing the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer, and then came the game-changing 19th over where he removed Jurel via review (47 off 28) and then Archer, finishing with a match-winning 4/33. RR still needed 18 off the final two overs and had momentum on their side after scoring 22 off Bhuvneshwar’s final over. But Hazlewood’s brilliance and Dayal’s composed final over where he picked up Hasaranga sealed an 11-run win for RCB, sending home fans into raptures and lifting the team to third in the points table.

Here’s how fans reacted:

Also WATCH: Nitish Rana takes a sensational juggling catch to get rid of Devdutt Padikkal | RCB vs RR, IPL 2025

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