3 Reasons Why RCB Lost To PBKS IPL 2025: The Punjab Kings defeated the Royal Challengers Bengaluru by five wickets, with 11 balls to spare, in Match 34 of the Indian Premier League 2025. The match was played on Friday, April 18, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru have now played half of their league season, and they have had a mixed time so far. They kicked their season off with a fine win over defending champions KKR, followed by their first win against CSK in Chennai since 2008. The next two matches were a loss to GT and a win against MI. A loss against DC followed, which was preceded by a thrashing of RR. After tonight’s loss, the Royal Challengers have four wins, eight points, and a decent net run rate. This puts them fourth on the table.
On the other hand, the Punjab Kings’ first half of the season has been a bit better. They kicked their season off with two wins in a row, against GT and LSG, followed by a loss to RR. Next came a win over CSK and a loss to SRH. In their last match before this one, PBKS defended the lowest total in IPL history when they stopped KKR from chasing a minuscule target of 112. After tonight’s win, the Kings have five wins, two losses, and a decent net run rate, putting them second on the league table.
Today, we will look back at three reasons why RCB, who looked excellent in their last game, lost this match at home.
3 Reasons Why RCB Lost To PBKS IPL 2025
3) Rain, Rain, Go Away
The rain affected this match in more ways than one. Firstly, the start time was pushed by about two hours. However, more importantly, the complexion of the pitch was changed significantly following the precipitation.
After the match began and was shortened to 14 overs per side, the pitch did change its attributes. Normally, the tracks at Chinnaswamy are flat, making them conducive to batting. Massive scores are the norm here due to flat pitches and small boundaries. But that was so not the case today.
The pitch was sticky and low. The ball did not bounce as much as it should have, allowing the likes of Marco Jansen and Harpreet Brar to keep the ball low, which is usually not the case.
It also seems that RCB were not ready for how the surface behaved today, as the batters, especially in the beginning, looked to play big shots carefree and got out doing that. This was the reason that they could only manage to score 95 runs in 14 overs in this Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Punjab Kings match, a below-par score despite the shortened innings.
Check Out: 3 Reasons RCB Lost To PBKS IPL 2025
2) Punjab Kings Bowling Shines Again
Punjab Kings restricted the Kolkata Knight Riders to 95 in their previous match, defending the lowest total in league history of 111. Today, the bowling order of Shreyas Iyer’s team showed why they are among the best in the league once again.
Eight out of the 10 RCB batters who took to the crease today were dismissed for single-digit scores. So even if the inning was only 14 overs long, the Royal Challengers would not capitalise on their deep batting order and score big runs. The pacers kept bowling on good lines and lengths on a surface that helped both spin and seam bowling.
Arshdeep Singh, Marco Jansen, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Harpreet Brar took two wickets each, while Xavier Bartlett took one. Be it spin or pace, the Punjab Kings bowlers stuck to their plans today and neutralised the RCB batting order in this Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Punjab Kings match. Speaking of which –
1) Tim David Scoring The Majority Of RCB’s Runs
It’s not like Tim David scoring big runs is the issue here. The Aussie all-rounder’s 50 runs off 26 balls was the best inning of the night. The issue is that despite scoring just 50 runs, David scored the majority of runs for his side.
Despite the inning being only 14 overs long, on the Chinnaswamy, teams would expect a score around the 140-150 run range in as many overs. And yes, the rain did make the pitch a little more tricky, but not even getting to 100 runs made Bengaluru fall behind in this game.
And in-form Phil Salt scored four, Virat Kohli scored one, and Liam Livingstone scored four. Captain Rajat Patidar did score 23 runs, but he was one of only two batters for his side to score in double digits.
Jitesh Sharma scored two, Krunal Pandya made one run, and Manoj Bhandage, the Impact Player, scored one. Bhuvneshwar Kumar scored eight, while Yash Dayal got out for a golden duck. All this added up to 44 runs, six fewer than what Tim David scored on his own.
Check Out: 3 Reasons Why RCB Lost To PBKS IPL 2025
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