IPL Bulletin For April 25: From RCB Break Home Jinx to RR’s Hattrick of Batting Capitulation & CSK vs SRH Clash

Yet another run chase and Rajasthan Royals batting capitulated under pressure as Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally landed a home win in Indian Premier League (IPL) season 18 in week five of the campaign.

Having won five games in five away, RCB broke their M Chinnaswamy Stadium jinx with a thrilling comeback win against the struggling RR, who were well on-course to end their losing streak until the penultimate over.

Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood started off expensively, but held his nerve in the closing stages to completely turn the game around for RCB and also reached several milestones during his spell. Speaking of milestones, Virat Kohli breached yet another record in Bengaluru.

After a thriller in Bengaluru, there is more action in the south as two former champions Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad will collide in the bottom of the table clash on Friday (April 25). Here is the IPL Bulletin for April 25:

RCB register first win at home this season

A clutch bowling effort by Josh Hazlewood and Yash Dayal in the death overs helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) secure a win from the jaws of defeat, overcoming Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 11 runs at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

With this victory, RCB has secured their first win at home after three losses. After Virat Kohli (70), Devdutt Padikkal (50) powered the hosts to 205/5, Hazlewood (4/33) and Dayal (1/33) delivered a fantastic performance in death to restrict RR to 194/9.

Josh Hazlewood's death bowling turned game in RCB's favour

Having conceded 26 runs in his first two overs, Hazlewood returned to the attack in the 17th over and gave away just six runs with the wicket of Shimron Hetmyer. The Aussie then had to follow up on Bhuvneshwar Kumar's 22-run over which left the equation at 18 off 12 balls for RR.

With an impossible task of defending 18 off 12 balls, Hazlewood stepped up, conceding just 1 run and picked up the crucial wickets of Dhruv Jurel and Jofra Archer off back-to-back balls to finish with impressive figures of 4/33, leaving Dayal with a better task of defending 17 in the final over.

Rajasthan Royals surrender third game in a row from winning position

After stopping the slide of two-match losing streak with back-to-back wins, Rajasthan Royals have come close, but failed to cross the line in the recent three fixtures, losing in the super over to Delhi Capitals in the run chase of 9 in the final over.

RR batters Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer were once again tasked with chasing 9 in the final over against Lucknow Super Giants, but they capitulated and fell short of the target by 2 runs. On Thursday (April 24), RR batting once again snatched defeat from jaws of victory, failing to chase 18 off 12 balls vs RCB.

Kohli overtakes Gayle to take second spot for most 50-plus scores in T20

Kohli surpassed Babar Azam's tally for most fifties in the first innings of a T20 match, and also overtook legendary Chris Gayle's record to take the second spot for most 50-plus scores in the shortest format across competitions.

This is Virat's 62nd fifty while batting first in T20s, outdoing Babar, who has 61. It was also the Indian stalwart's 111th fifty-plus score in the shortest format, eclipsing Gayle's tally of 110. Kohli is now only behind David Warner, who has 117 fifty-plus scores in T20 cricket.

Hazlewood reaches two milestones with death bowling display

Hazlewood had a memorable outing in helping RCB get their first win in four attempts at the home ground of M Chinnaswamy Stadium as he crossed the 150 wicket mark in T20s and also completed 50 wickets in the IPL.

In 116 T20s, Hazlewood has taken 152 wickets at an average of 21.77, with best figures of 4/12. The Australian star also reached the milestone of 50 IPL wickets, having taken 51 scalps in 36 matches.

Kohli and Hazlewood move to second in Orange and Purple cap race respectively

Virat Kohli scored his fifth fifty of the ongoing season to leapfrog from ninth to second in the Orange Cap race. With 392 runs in 9 innings, Kohli is only behind leading run-scorer B Sai Sudharsan of Gujarat Titans. Sai Sudharsan has amassed 417 runs in 8 innings so far.

Josh Hazlewood started the day level with several bowlers on 12 wickets, but the RCB pacer produced figures of 4/33 to go level on top with Gujarat Titans pacer Prasidh Krishna in Purple Cap race. With 16 wickets each, Hazlewood and Krishna are separated by economy rates.

CSK and SRH lock horns in bottom of table clash

Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad will look to get back to winning ways and keep their slim hopes of qualifying for the IPL 2025 playoffs alive when they clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday (April 25).

Both teams have been off-colour this season, but CSK will take confidence from their flawless home record against SRH of a 5-match unbeaten streak. It will also be the battle of SRH's batters and CSK's bowlers in a contest that could seal the fate of one team.

Dhoni set to make 400th appearance in T20 cricket

India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) legend MS Dhoni will be playing the 400th T20 of his career during the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Chepauk. Dhoni will become the 24th player and the fourth Indian after Virat Kohli (407), Dinesh Karthik (412) and Rohit Sharma to complete a quadruple century of matches in T20 cricket.