In the 34th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Punjab Kings (PBKS) defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by five wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.
In a rain-affected match in Bangalore, PBKS outperformed the home team with a brilliant bowling performance. Arshdeep Singh established the tone early on with a blazing spell in the powerplay, while Harpreet Brar and Yuzvendra Chahal tightened the screws in the middle overs with disciplined and clever bowling. Thanks to their collective brilliance, the Shreyas Iyer-led team restricted the hosts to 95 runs in 14 overs.
Chasing an unimpressive target, the visitors got off to a steady start, with Priyansh Arya (16) and Prabhsimran Singh (13) scoring early runs. Josh Inglis also contributed, but none of the top-order batters were able to turn their starts into big hits. Nehal Wadhera stood solid, anchoring the innings with an undefeated 33. The elegant southpaw led his team home in calm fashion, hitting three fours and three sixes at an excellent strike rate of 173.68.
Rajat Patidar (23) and Tim David (50*) were RCB’s only batters to contribute meaningfully with the bat. Patidar showed potential in the middle, while David played a lone hand, remaining flawless and fighting to the end to give his team something to bowl at. His tenacious half-century gave RCB a glimmer of optimism in an otherwise disappointing batting performance.
Bowling in the first innings, two wickets each were grabbed by Arshdeep, Marco Jansen, Chahal and Harpreet Brar. Xavier Bartlett also managed to get one wicket.
While defending, Josh Hazlewood managed to scalp three wickets. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also got two wickets.
With this win, PBKS stand second in the points tally with 10 points.
Scorecard:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 95/9, Overs 14, Tim David 50, Marco Jansen 2/10
Punjab Kings: 98/5, Overs 12.1, Nehal Wadhera 33*, Josh Hazelwood 3/14
