Bengaluru, April 19: Nehal Wadhera played a match-winning knock of 33 not out off 19 balls as Punjab Kings beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by five wickets in a rain-shortened 14-over match of IPL 2025 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The Chinnaswamy pitch, known for high-scoring matches, turned difficult for batting after a two-hour rain delay reduced the match to 14 overs a side. RCB struggled right from the start after losing the toss. Most of their batters failed to adapt to the slow surface. Only Tim David showed some resistance, scoring an unbeaten 50 off 26 balls, helping RCB reach 95/9.

Arshdeep Singh led Punjab’s bowling with key early wickets of Phil Salt and Virat Kohli, becoming PBKS's highest wicket-taker in IPL history with 86 wickets. Yuzvendra Chahal and Marco Jansen also took two wickets each.

Punjab’s chase also had early troubles. Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya fell after starts, and Josh Hazlewood's fiery spell reduced Punjab to 52/4. But Wadhera kept calm and hit some timely boundaries, taking the match deep. With 32 needed off 24 balls, Wadhera played clever shots to ease the pressure. Marcus Stoinis finished the chase in style with a six, and Punjab won with 11 balls to spare.

Brief Scores:
RCB 95/9 in 14 overs (Tim David 50*, Rajat Patidar 23; Marco Jansen 2-10, Chahal 2-11)
lost to
PBKS 98/5 in 12.1 overs (Nehal Wadhera 33*, Arya 16; Hazlewood 3-14, Bhuvneshwar 2-26)