In a nerve-jangling contest at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pulled off a sensational comeback to defeat Rajasthan Royals (RR), thanks to a match-turning 19th over from Australian speedster Josh Hazlewood. With just 18 runs needed off the final 12 balls, Hazlewood produced an over for the ages — conceding just a single run and grabbing two crucial wickets, including the in-form Dhruv Jurel.
RR appeared to be cruising for much of the chase. Yashasvi Jaiswal gave them a flying start with some audacious strokeplay before falling to Hazlewood. Contributions from Nitish Rana and Riyan Parag kept them ahead of the rate, and at one point, RR were 30 runs ahead of RCB’s score at the same stage.
However, RCB clawed their way back into the game with a brilliant spell from Krunal Pandya in the middle overs. The left-arm spinner not only broke partnerships but also stemmed the flow of runs, finishing with two vital wickets.
Despite that, Dhruv Jurel’s late assault — especially the 22 runs he plundered in the 18th over — swung the momentum back in RR’s favour. But Hazlewood’s 19th over flipped the script yet again. The game turned on its head when Jurel bottom-edged one to the keeper, with sharp work from Jitesh Sharma ensuring the umpire reviewed the faint nick that others seemed to have missed.
From there, RCB closed out the match comfortably, sealing their first home win of the season and maintaining their perfect away record. For RR, however, it was yet another heartbreaking loss while chasing — their third such collapse in a row, having let games against DC, LSG, and now RCB slip through their fingers.
With this defeat, RR have now lost five straight matches and find themselves languishing in the bottom half of the table, a position that doesn’t reflect how close they’ve come to winning multiple games.
Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal unleashed a brutal assault on the Rajasthan Royals’ bowling attack, each slamming rapid half-centuries to set up a commanding total of 205/5 for Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag(c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma
