Bhuvneshwar Kumar stole the show with the ball before hitting a crucial maximum towards the backend of the game, as that enabled RCB to upstage MI by 2 wickets. Bhuvneshwar Kumar showed his skills and finished with a 4-wicket haul while Tilak Varma scored a half-century and Naman Dhir looked good as RCB restricted MI to a competitive score of 166/7 in 20 overs.
Chasing 167 for the win, RCB rode on an unbelievable performance from Krunal Pandya, who scored a masterful 73 off 46 balls, while Jacob Bethell got a start and scored 27 off 27 balls. The others chipped in and almost lost the plot. But timely intervention and a maximum from Bhuvneshwar when it mattered made all the difference in the game as RCB edged out MI and knocked them and LSG out of the tournament.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s impressive 4-wicket haul restricts MI to 166/7 in 20 overs
Put into bat first, keeper batter Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma opened the batting for MI while Bhuvneshwar Kumar had the ball in hand for RCB. Bhuvneshwar gave RCB the perfect start as he removed Rickelton for 2 off 4 balls with the score at 4 after the first over. Naman Dhir came out to bat next. Rohit took on Josh Hazlewood and deposited him for a few sixes in his first over as the veteran looked in full flow. The duo tried to forge a partnership and added 24 runs for the second wicket before Rohit fell for 22 off 10 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name.
Captain for the night, Suryakumar Yadav, came and went for a golden duck as Bhuvneshwar Kumar got his man again. He was on a hat-trick after that. Tilak Varma came out to bat next. Tilak and Naman got together to forge a partnership. They rode their luck through shoddy fielding as Tilak was dropped on 9 by Suyash Sharma, and he was about to make them pay. Tilak applied himself and got himself going. The duo put on a magnificent 82-run stand of 82 runs off 57 balls before Naman fell for 47 off 32 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Salam, who cleaned him up. Will Jacks came out to bat next.
The duo of Tilak and Jacks added 22 runs for the 5th wicket before Jacks fell for 10 off 10 balls with one boundary to his name to Romario Shepherd. Raj Angad Bawa came out to bat next. The duo of Tilak and Raj continued to fight with the southpaw. The duo added 23 runs for the 6th wicket before Tilak, the set batter, fell for 57 off 42 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Corbin Bosch came out to bat next.
Just 6 runs were added to the score before Raj Angad Bawa fell for 16 off 14 balls with one four to his name to Josh Hazlewood. Deepak Chahar came out to bat next and got off the mark. The duo added 5 runs for the 8th wicket as MI ended with a competitive 166/7 in 20 overs. Bosch stayed unbeaten on 5 off 5 balls while Deepak Chahar was unbeaten on 1 off 2 balls. 6 extras given by the fielding side.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers for RCB with figures of 4/23 in 4 overs. Josh Hazlewood bowled decently for his 1/33 in 4 overs. Romario Shepherd finished with 1/18 in 3 overs. Rasikh Salam finished with figures of 1/42 in 4 overs. Krunal Pandya bowled 3 overs for 26 runs, while Suyash Sharma bowled 2 overs for 21 runs. This meant that RCB’s target was 167 runs off 20 overs.
Krunal Pandya’s sparkling 73 helps RCB edge out MI by 2 wickets off the final ball of the game
Chasing 167 for the win, Jacob Bethell and Virat Kohli came out to open the batting for RCB while Deepak Chahar had the ball in hand for MI. Jacob Bethell started with two glorious boundaries. But Chahar hit back and got rid of Virat Kohli for a golden duck. Impact Player Devdutt Padikkal came out to bat next. Padikkal got off the mark with a boundary. The duo of Bethell and Padikkal added 14 runs for the second wicket before Padikkal fell for 12 off 11 balls with one four and one six to his name to Chahar. Captain Rajat Patidar came out to bat next.
Bethell applied himself out there and added 15 runs for the third wicket before Patidar threw his wicket away for 8 off 8 balls with one four to his name to Corbin Bosch. Krunal Pandya came out to bat next. Bethell and Krunal got together to forge a partnership. The power play score for RCB was 47/3 in 6 overs. The duo started to forge a partnership, and it was the Krunal Pandya show at the end of the day. Bethell played his game and showed great maturity.
The duo of Bethell and Krunal added 55 runs for the 4th wicket before Bethell fell for 27 off 27 balls with 2 fours to his name to Corbin Bosch. Jitesh Sharma came out to bat next. Jitesh Sharma, who was out of form coming into this clash, got his mojo back. He started timing the ball. Jitesh and Krunal forged a partnership and put on 37 for the 5th wicket before Jitesh fell for 18 off 12 balls with one four and two sixes to his name to Bosch.
Tim David came out to bat next and fell on the first ball for a golden duck. Bosch had two in two balls as RCB were 131/6 in 16 overs. Romario Shepherd came out to bat next.
Shepherd struggled with timing the ball, to say the least. Pandya took on the bowling and looked good as he completed his fifty and converted that into a significant knock. Krunal took on Ghazanfar and took him down. The duo of Krunal and Shepherd added 18 runs for the 7th wicket before Krunal fell for 73 off 46 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes to his name to Ghazanfar. Rasikh Salam came out to bat next, with MI now the favourites to win the contest. Shepherd was overhitting the ball and added 8 runs for the 8th wicket before Shepherd fell for a disappointing 4 off 11 balls to Angad Bawa.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar came out to bat next with 10 needed off 3 balls. Bawa bowled a wide. After which Bhuvneshwar Kumar hit a cracking maximum flat over deep extra cover for the maximum to bring it down to 3 off 2 balls. Bhuvneshwar took a single, and with 2 needed off 1 ball, Salam ran for his life and scampered back for the second run to give RCB a memorable win. Rasikh Salam was unbeaten on 3 off 2 balls, while Bhuvneshwar was unbeaten on a crucial 7 off 2 balls, with one six to his name. 15 extras given by MI bowlers as RCB finished with 167/8 in 20 overs.
MI bowlers tried hard and fell short of winning in the end. Corbin Bosch was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/26 in 4 overs. Deepak Chahar finished with figures of 2/33 in 4 overs. Allah Ghazanfar finished with 1/33 in 3 overs. Raj Angad Bawa finished with 1/39 in 3 overs. Jasprit Bumrah finished with 0/20 in 4 overs. Will Jacks finished with 0/13 in 2 overs. So, RCB beat MI by 2 wickets off the final ball of the match to go top of the points table. MI and LSG are knocked out. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was awarded the Player of the Match Award.
What Lies Ahead
So, RCB, with this win, moves to 14 points from 11 games and is topping the group. MI are out of the tournament. RCB next faces KKR in Raipur next, and MI has another game coming up to finish their campaign. Next up in IPL 2026, we go to Dharamsala for the North Indian Derby, where PBKS will host DC tomorrow night. PBKS needs a win to break their losing streak. Let’s see how that game pans out tomorrow.
Also Read:Â RCB vs MI: RCB Aims To Get Back To Winning Ways Against Resilient MI