Bengaluru Suffers Another Crushing Defeat at Home, Vipraj and Rahul's Stellar Performances Lead Delhi to Victory

IPL 2025: Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered a crushing defeat for the second consecutive time at their home ground, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in IPL 2025. The Bangalore batsmen failed to deliver, managing only 163 runs while batting first. Delhi Capitals chased down the target comfortably, winning by 6 wickets, handing Bengaluru their second straight loss at home. After brilliant bowling performances from Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav, KL Rahul’s outstanding batting steered Delhi to victory.

In this match, played on April 10, Bengaluru lost the toss and were asked to bat first. The story was eerily similar to their previous game against Gujarat Titans, where they also batted first and faced defeat. This time, however, Bengaluru started with more intent, as Phil Salt’s explosive batting provided a solid foundation, including 30 runs from Mitchell Starc’s over.

But disaster struck in the fourth over when a misunderstanding between Virat Kohli and Salt led to Salt being run out. From that point, Bengaluru's momentum stalled, and they began losing wickets quickly. Vipraj Nigam, Mukesh Kumar, and Kuldeep Yadav tightened the screws on Bengaluru’s middle order. Even captain Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma failed to make an impact. In the end, Tim David’s quickfire 37 runs from 20 balls lifted the team to 163 runs, but the total was not challenging enough for Delhi.

Delhi’s Rocky Start, But Rahul’s Masterclass Leads the Way

Delhi’s chase didn’t begin any better, as they lost 3 wickets by the fifth over, with just 30 runs on the board. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal were the key architects of these early breakthroughs. Even captain Axar Patel couldn’t help his team, getting dismissed for just 58 runs.

At this crucial juncture, KL Rahul took charge and anchored the innings. He was joined by Tristan Stubbs, and the duo began to rebuild the innings slowly but steadily. By the 14th over, Delhi's score had only reached 99 runs, and they needed 65 more runs in the final 6 overs. With rain threatening and Delhi behind on the Duckworth-Lewis score, the situation looked tricky.

However, Rahul shifted gears and took control of the game. In the 15th over, he took Josh Hazlewood to the cleaners, scoring 22 runs and bringing up his half-century. From there, Rahul and Stubbs dominated Bengaluru's bowlers, consistently finding the boundary. In the 18th over, Rahul finished things off with a glorious six, leading Delhi to a comfortable victory. Rahul remained unbeaten on 93 runs from 53 balls, while Stubbs contributed with a valuable 38 runs. Delhi won the match by 6 wickets with ease.