Punjab Kings defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 5 wickets in the 34th match of IPL season 2025 on Friday. In a rain-affected match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 95 runs while losing 9 wickets in 14 overs. In response, Punjab won the match with 11 balls to spare.Punjab Kings scored 98 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 12.1 overs. With this win, the Punjab team has reached the second position in the points table, while the Royal Challengers Bangalore team has slipped to fourth place. It has 10 points with five wins and two losses in seven matches. At the same time, this is the third defeat of the RCB team in seven matches. Chasing the target of 96 runs, Punjab Kings lost two wickets in the powerplay. Prabhsimran was dismissed after scoring 13 runs in 9 balls. Priyansh Arya scored 16 runs in 11 balls. Captain Shreyas Iyer returned to the pavilion after scoring seven runs in 10 balls, and Josh English returned to the pavilion after scoring 14 runs. Shashank Singh could score only one run in 5 balls. Nehal Vadhera returned unbeaten after scoring 33 runs in 19 balls. Marcus Stynes scored seven runs. Josh Hazlewood took three wickets, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets for Bangalore.The Bangalore team had a bad start while batting first. Openers Phil Salt (4) and Virat Kohli (1) were out after scoring runs. Liam Livingstone could score only 4 runs in 6 balls. Jitesh Sharma was out after scoring two runs in 7 balls. Krunal Pandya was out for just one run. Captain Rajat Patidar played an innings of 23 runs in 18 balls. Manoj could score only one run. Bhuvneshwar scored 8, and Yash was out without opening the account. Tim David returned unbeaten after scoring 50 runs in 26 balls. He hit 5 fours and three sixes in his innings. Tim hit three sixes on consecutive balls in the last over, which helped Bangalore reach 95.This match between RCB and Punjab started late due to rain, and it was decided to play the match in 14-14 overs. Punjab won the toss and decided to bowl first, which proved to be right. RCB’s team could score only 95 runs for nine wickets in 14 overs. In reply, Punjab won the match by scoring 98 runs for five wickets in 12.1 overs.Talking on this topic, Sourabh Solanki, who is a cricket coach at Ambedkar University Delhi, said, “RCB has lost three matches on its home ground, although it has won all matches away from home. Since RCB has a track record of not making it to the finals, the deteriorating performance raises concern. Punjab, on the other hand, shifted to the second position on the points table and has thus entered a safety net. It is highly essential for RCB to win the upcoming matches to stay in the game.”
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