Synopsis: Turbocharged RCB hammer vintage Punjab Kings to enter the final after nine years.
The superiority of Royal Challengers Bengaluru was not only in the margin of victory — by eight wickets, the chase of 102 sealed in 10 mere over — but in the vibes they exuded, the energy and enthusiasm, the cutting edge and ruthlessness.
RCB, turbocharged
From the time they strode onto the ground to the moment they wound up the game, when captain Rajat Patidar hoisted the ball into the stands over deep midwicket, RCB brimmed with purposeful energy. A conviction that hell or high water, they would fly to the final in Ahmedabad with ample time to re-energise for the title tilt, blazed in them.
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Not that they would require an upgrading from Thursday’s shellacking of Punjab. For this was their most emphatic performance this edition, remorselessly dismembering the season’s pole-sitter, a night that fuels the night of the dreams. The target of 106 was not worrisome by any stretch of imagination, but they neither took the total complacently nor embraced over-caution. Instead, they took this as an opportunity to emphasise their superiority, to issue a statement. RCB have thrice reached the finals before, but never with this merciless intensity. Bowling was aggressive and penetrative, fielding was all liveliness, fielders braving bruises to block boundaries.
RCB batsman Phil Salt playing shot against PBKS during IPL 2025
Qualifier; one match played at New PCA Stadium in Mullanpur on
Thursday. Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh
Just the second ball of their chase, Virat Kohli assertively pulled Arshdeep Singh through the midwicket fence and signalled that they would breeze and not grind their way to the target. Shortly, Phil Salt took charge, clouting Arshdeep for a four and six in his next over. Even beanpole New Zealand quick Kyle Jamieson devoured Kohli next over, a maiden, the lone ray of hope Kings saw this night, Salt didn’t decelerate. He plundered 16 runs in Jamieson’s next over to kill the chase in the powerplay itself. The score then was 61 for 1, and RCB dug out was already in a mood of celebration.
The grim Kings, their shoulders drooping and resigned to the inevitable fate, just sleepwalked through the rest of the match. The eliminator on Sunday presents a lease of life and a chance for revenge, but the appalling nature of their performance would worry them. Captain Shreyas Iyer was furiously critical of himself and the team. “Not a day to forget, but we have to go to the drawing board. We were befuddled and lost a lot of wickets. Something to go back and study. Not doubting my decisions in terms of planning. Outside of the ground, it was on point. Couldn’t execute, can’t blame our bowlers. It was such a low total. Got to work on our batting, on this wicket,” he told the host broadcasters. Their faithfuls, though, have seen it all before.
Vintage Kings
Punjab Kings’ powerplay was a throwback to their self-destructive inclinations of the past. Facing a fired-up yet ice-cool bowling firm, manned by a pair of masterful new-ball operators in Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, two decades of wisdom between them, their batsmen wilted. Boundaries rolled at a fair clip, yet overzealousness ripped into their veins. Priyansh Arya chipped a drive into the palms of cover, an instance of mistiming rather than a bad shot. The extra bounce was detrimental to drives on the rise.
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But Prabhsimran Singh and Shreyas would curse their moments of indiscretion. Prabhsimran raced to 18 off nine balls, essaying his percentage strokes to precision. Then he stepped out prematurely to Bhuvneshwar, who pulled his length back. The ball sprung inwardly, assisted by a hint of swing, but the batsman went through with his hideous heave, rather than a pull, and top-edged to the wicket-keeper. This bubbled into a pattern, batsmen perishing trying to over-hit and nicking. Shreyas was only two balls into his knock before he tried to thump Hazlewood’s good length ball in the corridor through the on-side and thick-edged to the wicket-keeper.
Seven balls later, the immaculate Hazlewood, subtler, faster and wittier that his disposition betrays, consumed Josh Ingis. The modicum of sideways movement tormented him, as did his supreme lengths. Hazlewood pounded one on the shorter side and the ball climbed into him. Inglis couldn’t resist the opportunity to execute his staple stroke. But this was quicker, bouncier and angled into the body that he could not go through the pull, resulting in a top edge. Kings stuttered to 38 for 4 in 5.1 overs.
Josh Hazlewood in action. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Realising the folly of his colleagues, Nehal Wadhera was more circumspect. Yet, he could not negotiate the movement of Yash Dayal’s nip-backer. Among the trio, the left-arm seamer, due to the virtue of bowling fuller, extracted the maximum swing off the surface. He was sumptuous against the southpaws, bending the ball into the pads and shaping it away as well. From 5/50 the recovery route was improbable.
It only turned more abysmal as Kings could not contain the rash of self-implosion that had infected them. It was as simple as bowling at the stumps on good length and the batsmen would produce something silly. The leg-spinner Suyash Sharma could not believe his luck as batsmen slog-swept his googlies to doom. All three of his victims departed slog-sweeping him, missing the ball altogether, and swiftly wrapped up for 101. It has been a season of revelations for the perennially underachieving side, but the old ghosts returned to spook them.
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Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 101 in 14.1 ovs (Stoinis 26, Suyash 3-17, Hazlewood 3-21, Dayal 2-26) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 106/2 in 10 ovs (Salt 56 n.o) by eight wickets.
