KL Rahul’s striking knock of 93* off 53 balls led DC to their fourth consecutive win of IPL 2025.
Delhi Capitals achieved an impressive start by winning their first four games in IPL 2025, with the most recent one a strong 6-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. On his fluent best, KL Rahul played 93* off 53 balls, while his able partner for the innings was Tristan Stubbs, remaining unbeaten on 38 off 23 before pacing the team for the target with 13 balls to spare.
Earlier, the bowlers of the Delhi Capitals first set the tone by keeping RCB to 163/7. Kuldeep Yadav was leading the charge, serving up 2/17 as Vipraj Nigam really strangled the middle order with his tight bowling of 2/18.
The intensity was ramped up in the field when the Royal Challengers Bengaluru came to visit with an early strike at Delhi Capitals as they chased a target of 164. Early on, Bhuvneshwar Kumar started things off, with Yash Dayal following him with a superb catch from Jitesh Sharma for the removal of the dangerous Jake Fraser-McGurk. The wicketkeeper’s impressive second delivery got Abishek Porel out, and Bhuvneshwar took another wicket, leaving the DC team in trouble at 39 runs for 3 wickets during the powerplay.
Skipper Axar Patel and KL Rahul attempted to restore, but Suyash Sharma’s leg-spin dismissed Axar Patel at 15, limiting DC to 66/4 at halftime. Teaming up together, Tristan Stubbs and Rahul scored a partnership of 1-2 runs in just 6.5 overs to lead DC to victory. Their stand-in for bat brought in 111 runs for the fifth wicket, leading DC to win with 13 balls left. Rahul entered the ground to replace Jake Fraser-McGurk, who lost his wicket in the first delivery of the third over.
It made for a fabulous setting inside the Chinnaswamy stadium as Salt’s blitz saw RCB race to their second-fastest team fifty in IPL history. But the very next over, the captain, Axar Patel, came on to bowl and suddenly the momentum altered. It was a terrific 37 off 17, but turned out to be a run-out because of miscommunication with Virat Kohli. The Delhi Capitals clawed back as Mukesh Kumar did a brilliant wicket-maiden in the final powerplay over, where he dismissed Devdutt Padikkal. With that, RCB finished the powerplay at 64/2.
The pressure remained as the big blow came from Vipraj Nigam, removing Kohli at 22 with a striking running diving catch by Mitchell Starc at long-off. Mohit Sharma had outplayed Liam Livingstone, checking RCB at 91/4 at the halfway. Kuldeep Yadav spun a web around the middle order comprising the RCB captain Rajat Patidar (25 off 23) and Jitesh Sharma (3 off 11), claiming two masterly scalps for 2/17. Vipraj added another to his kitty, getting rid of Krunal Pandya (18), already on his way to excellent figures of 2/18.
Scorecard RCB vs DC, 24th Match IPL 2025, Bengaluru, Apr 10 2025
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 163/7
Phil Salt 37 (17)
Tim David 37 (20)
Rajat Patidar 25 (23)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/26
Suyash Sharma 1/25
Yash Dayal 1/45
Delhi Capitals 169/4
KL Rahul 93 (53)
Tristan Stubbs 38 (23)
Axar Patel 15 (11)
Kuldeep Yadav 2/17
Vipraj Nigam 2/18
Mohit Sharma 1/10
