IPL 2025: Bengaluru come to life in 'death overs' to defeat Punjab

Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar help restrict Kings to 157-6 before Kohli fifty seals comfortable win for Royal Challengers

Virat Kohli, left, guided Royal Challengers Bengaluru to victory over Punjab Kings in Mullanpur. Getty Images

A day after Lucknow Super Giants conjured a scarcely believable win against Rajasthan Royals through some stupendous final overs bowling, Royal Challengers Bengaluru followed a similar template to taste victory in the IPL on Sunday.

A day earlier, Avesh Khan had produced a spell for the ages as Lucknow defended 25 runs from the last three overs to eke out a two-run win, with the Super Giants relying heavily on yorkers.

On Sunday, it was the turn of Bengaluru's veteran seamers Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to showcase their skills in the final four overs - traditionally known as the death overs in T20s - as they choked the life out of Punjab's batting in the first innings in Mullanpur, restricting the hosts to 157-6.

With four overs to go, Punjab were 129-6 and looking at a score of 170 or more, which is about par for that stage of the innings.

But Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar had other plans as they nailed yorkers one after the other against the well set Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen. Both batters have shown the ability to hit the ball long this season, which made RCB's bowling even more commendable.

The two seamers gave away just one boundary in the last four overs - a six by Jansen off the last ball of the innings. Even with that maximum, Punjab could collect just 28 runs from the four overs, which is unheard of in T20 cricket with two set batsmen and no wickets falling.

Many teams this IPL have gone back to the traditional mode of bowling in the final stage of an innings, backing the fast bowlers to target the base of the stumps with full deliveries. Before Avesh's heroics, Delhi Capitals pacer Mitchell Starc had produced a similar magical spell to seal victory over Rajasthan.

With bowlers now allowed to use saliva on the ball again - a practice that was topped following the pandemic - the ball is getting more conducive for reverse swing.

The first innings of most matches is seeing pacers get a lot more movement with the older ball. Also, umpires are now encouraged to change the ball if it gets wet because of evening dew, which is also allowing fast bowlers to trust the traditional style of death overs bowling.

Bengaluru used the same tactics to restrict Punjab to under 160, despite Shashank (31 from 33) and Jansen (25 off 20) at the crease.

Bengaluru's spinners played their part perfectly. Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya (2-25) and leg-spinner Suyash Sharma (2-26) accounted for most of the top order.

The total did not challenge Bengaluru enough.

The Royal Challengers chased down the target with seven wickets and as many deliveries in hand. Devdutt Padikkal hit a quick fifty while opener Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten 73 from 54 balls.

The result took RCB to 10 points and pushed them closer to a spot in the playoffs. They moved up to third in the table, with a total of five teams on same number of points.

Three more wins from the remaining six games should be enough for Bengaluru to qualify for the next stage.