Unstoppable on the road, underachievers at home. That has been the weird Royal Challengers Bengaluru story so far in IPL 2025. They would like to change the script on Friday, when they take on Punjab Kings at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
With four victories from six games, RCB have surely been among the better teams this year. But all their wins thus far have come in away fixtures. In the two matches they have played at home, they have been thrashed — first by Gujarat Titans, who won by eight wickets, and then by Delhi Capitals, who cantered to a six-wicket victory.
Post-mortem of RCB’s home losses this season indicate at their batting frailties at the Chinnaswamy, which seems to have undergone a change in the nature of its surface. It’s no longer a paradise for batters that it used to be.
RCB depend a lot on their slick batting line-up, led by Virat Kohli and Phil Salt upfront and marshalled by captain Rajat Patidar in the middle overs. But in their two home games, RCB, batting first on both occasions, managed totals of 169/8 and 163/7, respectively. In both the games, their top four could not contribute much.
So on Friday, much of the onus will be on the RCB batters, who will face the challenge of one of their former players, Yuzvendra Chahal. The leg-spinner looked to have rediscovered his zing in Punjab’s last game, when he took four wickets to fashion a thrilling win over Kolkata Knight Riders in a low-scoring encounter.
Chahal will headline Punjab’s attack, but he is not the only threat for RCB. There’s also the danger from Arshdeep Singh, the left-arm pacer’s excellent record in
T20s making him a prime weapon for the Shreyas Iyer-captained team.
