Kohli and Krunal Pandya Built a Partnership of 119 runs for the fourth wicket / AP Photo

Royal Challengers Bangalore continued their impressive run in IPL 2025, defeating Delhi Capitals in a clinical fashion at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. With this victory, RCB climbed to the top of the table with 14 points, winning 7 out of 10 games, while Delhi Capitals slipped to fourth place with 12 points from 9 matches. A composed half-century from Virat Kohli and a blistering 73 from Krunal Pandya powered RCB to a comfortable seven-wicket win, despite a spirited effort from Delhi’s bowlers.

Toss and Team Updates

In the 46th match of the Indian Premier League, played at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s stand-in captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to bowl first. Delhi Capitals’ skipper Axar Patel, however, said he would have preferred to bat on this surface anyway.

Playing Eleven

Delhi Capitals:

Faf du Plessis, Abhishek Poral, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (c), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, and Mukesh Kumar.

Impact Subs: Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Madhav Tiwari, and Tripurana Vijay.

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Virat Kohli, Jacob Bethell, Rajat Patidar, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, and Yash Dayal.

Impact Subs: Devdutt Padikkal, Liam Livingstone, Rakesh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, and Swapnil Singh.

Delhi Capitals’ Struggles With the Bat

Delhi Capitals got off to a brisk start thanks to Abhishek Poral, who smashed 28 runs off just 11 balls. However, Faf du Plessis struggled at the other end, scoring 22 off 26 deliveries. DC lost their first wicket at 33 when Poral fell to Hazlewood, and from there, the Capitals continued to lose wickets at regular intervals.

KL Rahul anchored one end with a steady 41 off 39 balls but couldn’t accelerate in the death overs and fell to Bhuvneshwar Kumar while attempting a lofted shot. Impact sub Ashutosh Sharma departed soon after for just 2 runs. Tristan Stubbs added valuable runs with a quickfire 34 off 18 balls, stitching together a 38-run partnership with Vipraj Nigam.

In the end, Delhi posted a modest 162/8 from their 20 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with 3/33 in his 4 overs, while Hazlewood chipped in with 2 wickets. Yash Dayal proved expensive, conceding 42 runs in his spell.

Kohli, Pandya Power RCB to Victory

Chasing 163, RCB opened with Virat Kohli and debutant Jacob Bethell, who replaced Phil Salt (out due to fever). Bethell fell early after scoring 12 runs. Kohli once again proved why he is called the “chase master,” anchoring the innings with a composed 51 off 47 balls, his sixth half-century of the season and temporarily claiming the Orange Cap for the seaso

RCB were in deep trouble early, slumping to 26 for 3 with the impact sub Devdutt Padikkal falling for a duck and Rajat Patidar managing just 6 runs. However, Kohli found an able partner in Krunal Pandya. Together, they stitched a match-defining 119-run stand, with Pandya playing the aggressor.

Pandya smashed a brilliant 73 off 47 deliveries, including four sixes and five boundaries, taking the game away from Delhi. Kohli held the other end firmly, ensuring there were no further hiccups. Kohli lost his wicket when the team score was 145 after his departure TimDavid joined Pandya and he played a cameo of 19 runs in 5 balls to finish the match off in style. He hammered 3 boundaries and a six in his innings 

DCskipper Patel was the standout bowler for Delhi, claiming 2/19 in his 4 overs, while Chameera picked up one wicket. Mitchell Starc went wicketless and Mukesh Kumar proved costly, conceding 51 runs in 3.3 overs.

Result & Player of the Match

RCB chased down the target with 9 balls to spare, winning comfortably by 7 wickets. Krunal Pandya’s all-round brilliance earned him the Player of the Match award, thanks to his match-winning 73 with the bat and a solid bowling effort of 1 for 28.

Published 8 Minutes Ago|Modified 5:26 PM EDT