Josh Hazlewood leads RCB to first home win in IPL 2025

Josh Hazlewood leads RCB to first home win in IPL 2025

BENGALURU: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won their first match at home this IPL season by beating Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 11 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

RCB batted first after losing the toss. Virat Kohli scored a strong 70 runs from 42 balls, hitting his first half-century at home this season. Devdutt Padikkal also made a fast 50 from 27 balls. Late quick runs from Tim David (23 off 15) and Jitesh Sharma (20* off 10) helped RCB finish with 205/5.

RR started their chase well. Yashasvi Jaiswal hit 49 from just 19 balls. But RCB’s bowlers came back strong. Krunal Pandya took key wickets, and Dhruv Jurel tried to fight back with 47 runs.

The turning point came in the last overs. Josh Hazlewood, who gave 26 runs in his first two overs, bowled brilliantly at the end. In the 19th over, he gave away just one run and took two wickets. His final bowling figures were 4 overs, 33 runs, and 4 wickets.

Yash Dayal bowled the final over, giving only six runs. Rajasthan finished at 194/9.

RCB now has 12 points and moves to third place. Rajasthan stays in eighth, making it harder for them to reach the playoffs.

Kohli stayed calm, Hazlewood delivered under pressure — and RCB fans finally got a win to cheer at home.