Honours for Kohli and Hazelwood as RCB go top of the IPL table

A dominant season continued for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Delhi last night, where they beat Delhi Capitals by six wickets to go top of the IPL 2025 points table. The Purple Cap for most wickets now rests on Australian quick Josh Hazlewood’s head, while Virat Kohli took the Orange Cap for most runs with his fourth successive half-century in a winning chase as RCB overhauled DC’s 162 with nine deliveries remaining. 

After a quick start from Abishek Porel, who hit 28 off 11 balls, RCB’s bowlers kept taking wickets and this did not allow any DC batsman to settle. KL Rahul managed 41 off 39 deliveries and Tristan Stubbs a more urgent 34 off 18 down the order, but it was not enough to seriously test RCB. 

In what was another impressive bowling performance, Hazlewood tightened his grip on the Purple Cap with 2/36 from his four overs, which took him to 18 wickets for the season. Hazlewood’s two strikes included Porel who was caught down the leg side, and later DC captain Axar Patel who was bowled when trying to mow across the line. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled well upfront and at the death to finish with 3/33, while left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya sent down his four overs for figures of 1/28.

Pandya would later end up with the match honours after finishing 73 not out from 47 balls, hitting five fours and four sixes, to steer RCB home in 18.3 overs. 

Kohli’s 51 off 47 balls set about building the chase after the early loss of IPL debutant Jacon Bethell. Kohli only hit four fours but ran hard and kept the pressure on DC, stating after the win how vital he feels taking matches deep is. RCB had slipped to 26/3 in pursuit of a target of 163 but with Kohli solid at one end, Pandya went on to play the defining innings of the match.

He began slowly, but once he found his range Pandya was superb. Dropped on 54 by Porel in the deep off Mitchell Starc, Pandya continued to attack and hastened RCB’s win in the company of Australian Tim David, who finished 19 not out from just five balls as he went 6,4,4,4 off Mukesh Kumar in the 19th over. 

This victory makes RCB the first team in IPL history to win their first six away games of a season.