Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) scored 205 runs in the first innings of the 42nd match of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on April 24.
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and put Royal Challengers Bengaluru to bat. RCB’s openers Virat Kohli (70 runs off 42 balls) and Phil Salt (26 runs off 23 balls) formed a 61-run stand for the first wicket.
RR’s captain Riyan Parag dropped Salt’s catch in the second over off Fazalhaq Farooqi’s bowling. This did not prove to be costly as Salt struggled throughout his stay at the crease. The Englishman was eventually dismissed by Wanindu Hasaranga in the seventh over after scoring 23-ball 26.
However, Kohli continued his dream run with the bat. Coming off a fifty versus Punjab Kings (PBKS), he carried on from where he left, smashing another half-century, his fifth of the season.
While Salt found it hard to score runs, Kohli did not let RCB’s run-rate dip. He was up to the task and hit boundaries at regular intervals as RCB scored 59 runs in the powerplay.
After the first six overs, RR’s spinners, including Hasaranga and Parag, tightened the screws, applying the brakes on the scoring-rate. The duo of Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal (50 runs off 27 balls) could accumulate only 24 more runs in the next four overs. At the 10-over mark, RCB’s score read 83/1.
Also read: IPL 2025 Match 42 RCB vs RR Highlights: Virat Kohli & Phil Salt get RCB to a blazing start
In a sudden change of momentum, Kohli and Padikkal took the attack to Sandeep Sharma, hammering 15 runs in the 12th over. Kohli brought up his fifty in 32 deliveries with a boundary.
RCB did not look back from here. Parag, who had given 15 runs in his first two overs, gave away as many in his third, as Padikkal and Kohli tonked him for a six apiece in the 14th.
Three more maximums were hit in the 15th over off Tushar Deshpande. Padikkal, who at one stage was batting on 10 runs off 10 deliveries, accelerated well, and blazed his way to a 26-ball fifty, bringing up the milestone with a six.
Jofra Archer got the better of Kohli in the first ball of the 16th over. The Royals bagged two more wickets in the 17th over as Sandeep sent both Padikkal and Rajat Patidar (1 run off 3 balls) packing.
It seemed as if RR would now manage to stem the flow of runs. However, Jitesh Sharma (20* runs off 10 balls) and Tim David (23 runs off 15 balls) provided the finishing touches. They smacked two boundaries in the 18th over off Farooqi and added 14 more runs to the total.
16 runs came in the 19th over bowled by Sandeep with David hammering a six. Jofra Archer bowled the final over and conceded just eight runs as RCB finished at 205 runs for the loss of five wickets.
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