Bengaluru, April 24: Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal smashed brilliant fifties as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) posted a massive 205/5 in their 20 overs against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 42 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.

Aiming to get their first home win in IPL 2025, Kohli and Padikkal hit 70 and 50 respectively while sharing a commanding 95-run stand for the second wicket. Tim David and Jitesh Sharma hit cameos of 23 and 20 respectively to help RCB post their highest total while batting at home for the first time in the competition.

Pushed into batting first, Kohli and Phil Salt had to face some searing bowling from Jofra Archer, though the former got a boundary off him via a glove edge. Salt had a slice of luck when batting on one when he toe-ended a low full toss from Fazalhaq Farooqi and stand-in captain Riyan Parag put down the catch at mid-off.

Luck was in Kohli’s favour when he almost chopped on to his stumps off Archer and got a boundary, before using his bottom-hand whip to take another four. After Salt took two boundaries off Farooqi, the opener duly dispatched Tushar Deshpande’s full balls for consecutive fours, before Kohli flicked off him and then drove off Sandeep Sharma, as RCB ended the power-play at 59/0.

Shortly after that, Salt ran out of luck when a top-edge on the sweep was caught by deep mid-wicket off Wanindu Hasaranga. Despite the stranglehold by Hasaranga and Parag, Kohli sliced and edged off Sandeep to bring up his fifth fifty of the season in 32 balls.

On the other end, a sublime Padikkal was elegant in his pull, sweep, drive down the ground, and punch through the off-side to pick boundaries. He had luck on his side when Deshpande dropped his catch on 28 off Hasaranga. To rub salt into the wound, Padikkal danced down the pitch to loft off Parag and then sliced Deshpande over the third man to collect two sixes.

While Kohli dispatched and lofted Parag and Deshpande for a six each, Padikkal got his fifty in 26 balls by lofting the latter down the ground for a majestic maximum. RR’s move to bring back Archer paid off when he broke the 95-run partnership, as Kohli chipped a slower ball to cover.

The visitors opted to take the second new ball, and that brought immediate reward when Padikkal spooned a slower ball from Sandeep to a juggling mid-off, while Rajat Patidar nicked a wide delivery to the keeper. Jitesh brought out his innovative streak by hitting fours off Sandeep and Farooqi, while David cut and lofted to get a four and a six each. Jitesh then pulled Archer for four to bring up RCB’s 200.

Brief scores:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru 205/5 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 70, Devdutt Padikkal 50; Sandeep Sharma 2-45, Wanindu Hasaranga 1-30) against Rajasthan Royals

--IANS

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