Virat Kohli’s impressive Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 got even better on Thursday as he jumped to the second spot in the Orange Cap list and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) won their first home match of the season at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
RCB defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 11 runs in a thrilling game as Josh Hazlewood produced one of the best death overs to guide Bengaluru to their first home win after three defeats. Before RCB restricted 194/9 in the 206-run chase, Kohli slammed 70 off 42 balls to help the home team cross the 200-run barrier.
With his latest fifty, Kohli zoomed to the second spot in the Orange Cap list for IPL 2025 from the eighth position. Gujarat Titans’ (GT) B Sai Sudharsan is at the top with 417 runs.
Kohli explains secret to batting well at Chinnaswamy
After breaking the Chinnaswamy brought, Kohli explained how being patient helped RCB put up a winning total at home . RCB had been guilty of scoring below par totals in the defeats at home.
“The first challenge here (at this venue) is to win toss and second half it becomes a bit of a advantage, we have been fighting hard to get a good score in the first few games, but the template today was for one guy to bat through and the rest of the batters can go attacking and today it really paid off,” Kohli said after the match.
“There is pace and bounce in the first 3-4 overs and I think we tried to force too many shots in the last 3 games and today we let the ball come and adjusted ourselves and we were able to capitalise on those. We figured out a way to bat now and in the next few home games, we should be in a better position to get those extra 15-20 runs.”
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHe also once again expressed his love for the stadium. “It (this venue) is the best place to play cricket in the IPL, and the fans backed us during good and bad times. It is a special place and have lot of special memories.”
RCB are now third in the IPL 2025 points table with six wins from nine matches and two more wins from the next five games should see them qualify for the playoffs. Historically, in IPL, eight wins have always been enough.