IPL 2025 | Punjab Kings increase RCB’s itch

On the eighteenth anniversary of India’s favourite pastime, aka the Indian Premier League, it became apparent why it is so.

At the same venue on the same day in 2008, Bengaluru’s indefatigable crowd gathered at the M Chinnaswamy stadium to witness an era-defining 158 not out from Kolkata Knight Riders’ Brendon McCullum. RCB lost that game by 140 runs. KKR scored 222 for 3. RCB were bowled out for 82, a score which is their lowest to date.

A lot has changed between 2008 and 2025, but RCB’s ability to go from epic to inept from one game to the next seems to be alive still.

Days after they chased down 173 against the Rajasthan Royals with nine wickets to spare, RCB put up one of their worst batting performances in recent memory to end on an anaemic 95 for 9 in 14 overs despite Tim David hammering an unbeaten 50 from 26 balls.

The two-hour-17-minute delay caused the delay and the eventual curtailing of the overs, but after the first innings it was fairly accepted that RCB would lose their third consecutive home game.

All that took the backseat once Punjab put on an equally pedestrian show themselves. Hope reigned, fans found their voices again, and the DJ was putting out some belters.

Punjab were down four wickets for 53 runs, and it didn’t seem like they had enough in their gut to get this done. Their fear was palpable in head coach Ricky Ponting’s darting eyes from the dug-out. But Nehal Wadhera was bent on showing his worth.

On the back of the left-hander’s immaculate 19-ball 33, Punjab reached 98 for 5 in 12.1 overs. Phew!

This is why the crowd, a healthy heap too, didn’t mind the steady drizzle which accompanied them or the traffic which hindered them as they squeezed their way past overzealous cops and pushed their way in to settle into their seats to wait.

Their patience was eventually rewarded at 8:59 pm when the covers came off. At this point, it was announced that the toss was going to happen at 9:30 pm and a 14-overs-a-side match would eventually start at 9:47 pm.

Not long after, the crowd wished the game hadn’t gotten underway at all. They were reduced to a sparing applause or two as RCB’s batters came up with an amateur display, a fact compounded by their questionable composition. David’s long handle, though, came in handy.

When the response came about, RCB looked in the game for the most part after getting rid of Priyansh Arya and Shreyas Iyer, but Josh Inglis’ 14 meant Punjab would remain in the space for a thrust. And Wadhera was just that.

At this point, it seems like there’s something about this City they’re allergic to, and it isn’t pollen or pollution.

Rajat Patidar is yet to win a toss here in three games, meaning the Kings would naturally choose to bowl first and capitalise on the dew later in the evening.

But, those dynamics forced a change in strategy because the game was delayed by over two hours due to the kind of powdery rain, which - annoyingly - allows for most outdoor sports to go on unabated, save for cricket.

In the end, though, the crowd got a decent game out of it. It wasn’t high quality, but it may have been worthy of the long, congested drive.