RCB stormed into the playoffs as the Punjab Kings completed an incredible collapse in Himachal

Quick Scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (222/4 in 20 overs) beat Punjab Kings (199/8 in 20 overs) by 23 runs at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamsala

PBKS vs RCB: HIGHLIGHTS | SCORECARD

Six defeats on the bounce. Three weeks ago, Punjab Kings were the most feared side in the tournament – unbeaten in seven games and racing like men who had already etched their names on the trophy. Now, on a sun-drenched Sunday in Dharamsala, they have forgotten what it feels like to win. Punjabis love their escape in Himachal, the cool air, the mountains, the escape, but this trip to the hills brought no relief, no respite, no miracles to the kings of Punjab. A must-win game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and a 23-run loss to send their play-off campaign to the ICU.

As the sun crept behind the Dhauladhar range in the long golden evening of Himachal, the hopes of the Punjabi kings crept with it, never to return.

RCB, meanwhile, stormed into the playoffs, picking up 18 points from 13 matches. Punjab, in stark contrast, were left stranded on 13 points for the 23rd straight day, all but doomed to an early exit.

Only one team played like the team that contested last season’s finals. RCB, who proudly wear the ‘Champions of Attacking’ badge, got the basics right and produced a collective effort that Shreyas Iyer and head coach Ricky Ponting – their faces etched with gloom in the dugout during the final – could only watch and envy.

Virat Kohli seamlessly followed up his heroics in Raipur to stroke his fourth fifty of the season. Venkatesh Iyer got a rare opportunity and grabbed it with both hands – a beautifully stomping 73 that silenced any questions about his prolonged absence from the playing XI. Devdutt Padikkal, as always, was the main enforcer, blasting 45 off just 25 balls, while Tim David provided the final flourish with a typically brutal cameo.

222 lit up the scoreboard at the mid-innings break. It was the ninth time this season that Punjab have conceded more than 200 runs – and the first time any team in the history of T20 cricket has delivered a total of more than 200 in a single tournament. A record no one wants.

It became a grim recurring theme for the Kings. They shuffled personnel, redrew battle plans, tinkered endlessly. Yet their bowling weaknesses, long hidden by one of the most devastating batting line-ups in the competition, were mercilessly exposed in the second half of the season. The slide from invincible to vulnerable was, frankly, unbelievable.

The same batting unit that plundered 265 in Delhi a few weeks ago found itself helpless. A ferocious over from Purple Cap holder Bhuvneshwar Kumar left them gasping at 19 for 3, the chase effectively buried before it really began.

The drop in temperature should have helped the pull, the ball flying sweetly off the bat in the thin air of Dharamsala – and Shashank Singh, who somehow conjured up a blistering 21-ball fifty after managing a paltry 66 runs in all his previous outings, proved the conditions were far from unplayable. Still, Punjab Kings were restricted to 199 for 8, a far cry from the maximum they wanted to achieve to keep their playoff hopes alive.

BHUVI BLOWS OUT THE ENGINE ROOM

Bhuvneshwar Kumar soon broke into the PBKS batting line-up. Courtesy: Reuters

When it mattered most, the engine room sputtered to a halt. Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer and Priyansh Arya – the men Punjab depend on to fuel their chase – all looked shadows of their former selves, lacking in confidence and plenty of hesitation. The late afternoon swing and bounce that Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood extracted from the Dharamsala pitch almost made a challenging evening impossible.

The crafty Bhuvneshwar was in his element, moving the ball both ways and pounding the edges with the knowing smile of a man who has done it a thousand times before. He removed Priyansh Arya in the very first slip of the defense, the opener’s tap running dry after a sensational start to the season. Prabhsimran, fresh off his fifty on Thursday, managed just 2 before swinging the blade at length delivery and finding the slip cordon. A needless dismissal – and kind Punjab simply could not afford it.

It was not Hazlewood but medium pacer Rasikh Dhar who then delivered the decisive blow, holding the line in the third over with a tangled seam, a little extra bounce and kissing the outside edge of Shreyas Iyer’s bat. Bringing in Rasikh in the fourth innings, when he was introduced as an Impact Player, was a masterstroke – one of the many smart tactical calls RCB have made during the season and it looks more and more like they belong.

VIRAT KOHLI MARCHES ON

Virat Kohli scored a scintillating 58 against PBKS. Courtesy: Reuters

Shreyas Iyer didn’t think twice before opting to bowl first in the afternoon game despite history offering no comfort. The teams batting first in the afternoon matches at the HPCA Stadium managed only three wins against four defeats. Evening games in Dharamsala are a different animal, where the dew makes the draw almost a given. But with the sun refusing to set until 7pm IST, it was a much tougher call.

However, Punjab Kings backed their instincts – and more importantly backed Harpreet Brar from the power bowl. The off-spinner was named in their previous XI but never got to bowl, with Punjab instead fielding Vishnu Vinod as their Impact Player after their batting order fell apart against Mumbai Indians on Thursday. They also axed Marc Jansen, who had bled 40-plus runs in four of his last five outings, handing the new ball to Azmatullah Omarzai and Arshdeep Singh instead. While Arshdeep was tidy in his opening, Omarzai had no answer for Virat Kohli.

The master batsman, who drew a packed, buzzing crowd to the Dharamsala hills on Sunday afternoon, unleashed a signature outswinger drive and sent it into the stands, immediately unsettling the Afghan pacer’s rhythm.

However, Brar gave the Punjab the foothold they craved. Catching Jacob Bethell for 11 in the third match, the Englishman’s woeful run this IPL season showed no signs of abating. Punjab would have loved to claim that early advantage – but Devdutt Padikkal had other ideas. The very first ball Brar faced was sent into the stands with breathtaking audacity, a statement of intent wrapped in a single clean swing.

Kohli joined the attack and bowled Lockie Ferguson over the rope with a flick of the wrist that drew roars from the terraces. Together, the two refused to let Arshdeep or Brar apply any pressure and at the end of the over, they bowled out RCB for 61 for 1. It was a figure that made a mockery of the early wicket.

For most of this season, Padikkal has been RCB’s main player at the top, especially after Phil Salt’s injury left a considerable void. The young Karnataka left-hander, who had batted at a strike rate of 173 during the tournament, was back in full swing, attacking Yuzvendra Chahal after a power delivery and hitting two towering sixes in the leg-spin over, which bled 22 runs and left Chahal visibly frustrated.

Just when Padikkal appeared to be cruising to another fifty, Brar conjured a moment of magic, dismissing the left-hander and proving in the most emphatic way that head-to-head matches can sometimes be beautifully overrated.

But even the end of the 76-run stand did not bring Punjab any real respite. With captain Rajat Patidar sidelined due to injury, RCB turned to Venkatesh Iyer at No. 4. Iyer, who played only his third innings of the season and last batted for RCB on April 30, was understandably rusty. A quick spell in the nets on the eve of the match could only do so much. There were nervous moments – Chahal thrashing him on the outside edge in the 11th over – before Kohli went for a quiet word. The message seemed simple: wait for the ball, keep your shape, trust the process.

Iyer, to his credit, kept trying the reverse move regardless, which didn’t exactly inspire conviction. Kohli took matters into his own hands, that magical wrist conjuring his third six of the day – a whipped long ball from Shashank Singh that disappeared into the stands. The older man protected his partner and carried the weight of the shift on his experienced shoulders.

Kohli brought up his fourth fifty of the season in the 12th and almost inevitably crossed the 500-run mark of the season – a milestone he has made a habit of in recent years.

VENKATESH IYER CUTS FREE

Venkatesh Iyer scored a blistering fifty against PBKS. Courtesy: Reuters

At the other end, Iyer was crawling to 15 off 14, his restraint increasingly at odds with the situation. In the 13th, the switch swung dramatically. He took on Brara with wild intent and launched the first two deliveries into the stands. Then Chahal felt his wrath in the 15th over – two more towering sixes – ensuring RCB never missed Patidar’s anti-spin blade.

It was a testament to the auction acumen of the defending champions. They traded like for like and it paid off handsomely in Dharamsala – as just as Iyer found his touch, Kohli fell for 59 in the 15th over. Still, there was no peace. Iyer plundered another 35 of his fifty off just 14 deliveries and turned his attention to the pacers, including a thoroughly roughed-up Ferguson. Tim David then made his cameos count and punished Arshdeep with a lofty maximum in the 18th over to take RCB past 200.

A score of 240 beckoned but Omarzai’s composure in the penultimate over – sticking to his yorkers with cool precision – restricted Punjab to just 8 runs and brought RCB back down to earth. David finished the innings in style with a six and a four before he dug himself out of deep square leg on the last ball.

RCB posted 220 and the man of the moment was undeniably Venkatesh Iyer – unbeaten on 73 off 40 deliveries, with four sixes and eight boundaries. Each run felt like a release after weeks spent watching from the dugout.

It was a collective effort defined by three fifty-plus partnerships – exactly the kind of cohesion that the Punjab Kings simply couldn’t match on the day.

– The end

Issued by:

sabyasachi chowdhury

Published on:

17 May 2026 19:54 IST