RCB back to being poor at home, batters struggle against PBKS in 95/9 flop show

Even though the delayed start in the RCB vs PBKS match might have dampened the spirits of the Bengaluru crowd, but the way the first innings in the IPL 2025 encounter went, that more than made up for the lost time. Batting first, Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar’s team could only manage to score a paltry 95 in 14 overs, in a rain-curtailed match.

Truth be told, the team did not even look like crossing 50 at one stage, and were 42/7 after the end of 8.2 overs. After the end of the 12th over, the score only became 63/9, with RCB batsmen only to blame. Yes, the pitch did play it’s part in helping the PBKS bowlers, but it was largely down to RCB playing poor shots.

It all started with Punjab pacer picking up two wickets in as many overs. Phil Salt was the one who started the trend of poor shots; ran down the track and only managed to edge it. Virat Kohli, who has an excellent record against Arshdeep, was dismissed for only 1. And that made it clear, it was going to be struggle for their batters.

Rajat Patidar did play an innings of 23 from 18, and became the second-quickest Indian to 1000 runs in the IPL, but all his good work was undone by Yuzvendra Chahal, who returned with figures of 2/11 in his 3 overs. Arshdeep too bagged two and gave away 23 runs. But the star of the ball was Marco Jansen who returned with a spell of 2/10.

The only reason why RCB reached 95 was, a late flurry of sixes by Tim David, who went on to score his maiden fifty in the tournament, that too in only 26 deliveries. At a time when Harpreet Brar’s bowling figures read 2/4 in 1 over, he slammed him for 20 runs in the last over of the innings.