Punjab Kings beat Royal Challengers in top-of-the-table IPL clash

Punjab Kings overcame Bengaluru Royal Challengers in a rain-affected clash on Friday in at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, restricting the hosts to 95/9 before chasing it down with 11 balls to spare.

The five-wicket victory takes PKBS to the first line of betting across IPL bookmakers, with BetOnline now pricing the franchise at $5 to win the 2025 IPL title.

RCB entered the match slight favourites but began about as poorly as possible, losing opener Phil Salt (4 from 4) in the first over.

Their batting woes continued as only captain Rajat Patidar (23 from 18) and Tim David 50* from 26) made double digits.

In fact, the latter’s innings saved the home side from a record-low total, given RCB sat at 42/7 in the ninth over.

Wickets were shared across the PBKS attack, with Marco Jansen’s figures of 2/10 from three overs the best of the lot.

In response, Punjab were far from convincing – losing five wickets and meandering along at just over eight runs an over – but they got the job done through a strong knock by Nehal Wadhera (33 from 19) in the middle order.

Openers Priyansh Arya (16 from 11) and Prabhsimran Singh (13 from 9) got the visitors off to a flyer with 22 runs off the first two and a half overs.

Things slowed up then they exited, however, and cricket bookies gave RCB a live chance when PBKS slipped to 53/4 from eight overs.

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Wadhera took the contest away from the hosts though, cracking three maximums before Marcus Stoinis (7 from 2) closed out the match with a six of his own on just his second ball.

“Variety is the spice of life and we are here to experience all kinds of games here, it’s a great challenge,” Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer said afterwards.
“To be honest we didn’t know how the wicket was going to feel but the bowlers adapted to it.

“There was no thinking to be honest, I was just taking instinctive moves.

“I just didn’t want new batters to come in and settle in.”

PBKS now sit alongside Delhi Capitals at the top of the IPL ladder, while RCB are two points behind.

Bengaluru’s title odds lengthen slightly across leading bookmakers off the back of the defeat, with BetOnline placing them on the third line of betting at $6.

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