In an intense match, Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025 Match No. 52, advancing to the top of the standings.
This IPL season, RCB lost their fifth straight home game and were thrown in for the fifth game. Despite having a strong start from Virat Kohli (62 off 33) and Jacob Bethell (55 off 33), RCB’s middle order was unable to sustain the momentum. After destroying the middle order, Matheesha Pathirana (3 for 36) launched the Romario Shepherd act. In the final two overs, Shepherd (53* off 14) hit some spectacular boundaries to lead RCB to a seemingly secure total at halftime.
In the powerplay, RCB again got off to a solid start with the ball, but Ayush Mhatre (94 off 48) displayed all of his abilities.
After an over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mhatre smacked five fours and a six. Additionally, RCB continued to lose the game to Ravindra Jadeja (77* off 45). In his first IPL game in more than four years, Lungi Ngidi slammed the door open for RCB. RCB had an in when Ngidi (3 for 20) removed Mhatre and Dewald Brevis from consecutive balls. The dismissal of Brevis became contentious in the end.
Following much back and forth between the teams, Yash Dayal was given the responsibility of defending 15 runs off the final over. Two runs and MS Dhoni’s wicket were scored in the first three deliveries. Shivam Dube hit a six with three balls remaining and 13 runs needed. Originally, the beamer was also not called that. Since RCB was ahead by two runs, Dayal only let up singles when six runs were needed from three balls.
Here are the most important numbers from the match
1 – Virat Kohli’s 154 sixes at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru are the most by a player at any stadium in all T20s. The previous record was Chris Gayle’s 149 at the same ground.
1 – Virat Kohli is the first batsman to put up 8,500 runs in the IPL. Rohit Sharma is a distant second with 6,921.
1 – Virat Kohli now has the joint most fifties in the IPL. His 62 are as many as David Warner had gotten.
1 – 2025 is now the eighth IPL season where Virat Kohli has aggregated 500 runs or more. These are the most such seasons by a player with David Warner’s seven being in second place.
1 – Virat Kohli’s 1,146 runs against CSK in the IPL are the most by a player against a single franchise in the marquee league. In close quarters are – David Warner with 1,134 against PBKS, Kohli with 1,130 against DC and Kohli with 1,104 against PBKS.
1 – Khaleel Ahmed’s economy rate of 21.67 is the worst in a single IPL innings of minimum three overs. Each of the top three entries on this list are from IPL 2025. The next worst is Jofra Archer with 19 having conceded 76 runs in his four overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier in the season.
1 – Despite the fact that he bowled just three overs in this match, Khaleel Ahamed’s 65 are the most runs conceded by a CSK bowler in an IPL match. The previous record belonged to Lungi Ngidi who conceded 62 in his four overs against MI in 2021. That game was Ngidi’s last in the IPL before this one.
2 – Romario Shepherd’s 14-ball fifty is the joint second fastest in IPL history. Yashasvi Jaiswal got a fifty in 13 balls against KKR in 2023 while KL Rahul against Delhi Capitals in 2018 and Pat Cummins against MI in 2022 matches the figure of 14.
1 – Shepherd’s 14-ball fifty was the fastest ever for RCB in the IPL. Before Shepherd, the record was held by Chris Gayle who got to fifty in 17 balls during his iconic 175* against Pune Warriors in 2013.
3 – Khaleel Ahmed’s 33-run 19th over to Shepherd is the joint-third most expesnive over in IPL history. The top spot is shared by two overs that went for 37 runs each – by Prasanth Parameswaran against RCB in 2011 and Harshal Patel against CSK in 2022. Daniel Sams bowled a 35-run over against MI in 2022, while Ravi Bopara against KKR in 2010 and Parwinder Awan against CSK in 2014 also bowled 33-run overs.
3 – Shepherd’s strike rate of 378.57 in thsi innings is the third highest in a single IPL innings for a minimum of 10 balls faced. Shepherd also has the top spot in this list after making 39 runs in 10 balls at a strike rate of 390 against Delhi Capitals last year. Abhishek Sharma is in second place having scored 46 runs in 12 balls at a strike rate of 383.33 also against the Capitals in 2024.
4 – This match was the fourth instance where three different batters made fifties for RCB in an IPL match. The only other teams with even two such instances are SRH and CSK.
3 – Ayush Mhatre became the second youngest player to score an IPL fifty at 17 years and 291 days old. The top two slost are taken by Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who was 14 years and 32 days old during his carnage-filled hundred earlier this year, and Riyan Parag who wass 17 years and 175 days old while scoring a fifty against CSK in 2019.
1 – CSK aren’t known for investing in very young players, and it shows. Mhatre became the first teenager to score an IPL fifty for CSK. The previous youngest player to score an IPL fifty for CSK was Suresh Raina who was well over 21 years old in 2008.
3 – MS Dhoni became the third player to hit 50 sixes against a single franchise in the IPL. Dhoni breached the mark against RCB while Chris Gayle did it against both Punjab Kings and KKR. Rohit Sharma also has fifty sixes against Delhi Capitals in the IPL.
1 – For the first time ever, RCB have completed a season double over CSK by beating them in both league stage matches in the season.
2 – RCB’s win margin of 2 runs is their joint-second lowest in terms of runs in the IPL. RCB registered one-run wins over Punjab Kings in 2016, CSK in 2019 and Delhi Capitals in 2021. RCB’s other two-run win came against MI in 2013.
India
