🏏IPL 2025,M42 RCB vs RR on Apr24 7:30pm IST @ Bengaluru 🏏

🏏 IPL 2025 – Match 42: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Rajasthan Royals | April 24, 7:30 PM IST | M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru🏏

RCB replaced at No. 3 on the points table with five wins and three defeats from eight matches. They are coming into this clash on the back of a resounding seven-wicket win against Punjab Kings in Mullanpur on Sunday. The Rajat Patidar-led side has not won a game at home this season. They would want to change that on Thursday and give their passionate fans moments to celebrate.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals are all but out of the playoffs race. They only have two victories from eight games, and are stationed at No. 8 on the points table. Sanju Samson will miss the upcoming clash due to an injury, as Riyan Parag will continue at the helm. They suffered an agonising two-run defeat against Lucknow Super Giants in their most recent fixture, which was held at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

Preview.

Rajat Patidar turned around to his support staff and smiled wryly. This was the third straight time he'd lost the coin toss at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and with it, another chance to dictate terms at a venue that has flipped its reputation this season. "I want to win a toss there," he exclaimed in Mullanpur after extending RCB's unblemished away record to a fifth straight win.

It wasn't a throwaway line. The Bengaluru pitches have been anything but predictable. No longer a flat-track haven, they've punished cross-batted adventurism and demanded some old-school accumulation, a shift that's turned match templates on their head. RCB, forced to bat first each time, have chased 'par-plus' scores without any real sense of what par might look like. That has led to early risks, and their top-order, so assured and commanding on the road, has been caught in the crossfire between bravado and the pitch's treachery.

In this context, another line from the presentation ceremony in Mullanpur stood out. "I can accelerate, but I want to understand the strengths of other players. Holding one end up at the moment, that's working for us," said Virat Kohli. It was revealing, not just about his awareness of team dynamics, but also his evolving role within them. The conditions in Bengaluru may now be nudging him back toward a version of himself he's consciously moved away from. The anchor role he's tried to outgrow in T20 cricket resurfaces now as necessity rather than default, to help avoid losing games inside the PowerPlay.

For RCB, the feeling is that they're simply too good a team this season to let their home troubles linger much longer. They'll look on hopefully at their next visitors, a beleaguered Rajasthan Royals outfit battling a deeper slide. Four losses on the bounce, including the last two botched in the final over, have rattled the Royals' campaign. There's an imbalance to their playing combinations that has no easy fixes. What they need now, almost counter-intuitively, is the kind of fearless cricket their 14-year-old debutant, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, embodied in their last game: uninhibited and unburdened. Where RCB might need a dash of pragmatism to navigate their home conditions, Rajasthan's best shot could lie in swinging freely and see what breaks. And they'll be hoping Bengaluru's pitch has one more twist of the knife left, only this time, they'll need to be ready to drive it home themselves.

When: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Rajasthan Royals, Match 42, IPL 2025, April 24, 19:30 IST

Where: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

What to expect: Last week's showers have cleared out, leaving behind mostly pleasant playing conditions. The pitch, though, still demands application and adaptability from the batters. However, Rahul Dravid, RR's head coach, reckons the pitch for tomorrow's game could facilitate high scores. With chasing always offering a clear edge at this venue, captains are unlikely to think twice about bowling first.

Head to head: RCB 16-14 RR. RCB won the return fixture in Jaipur a week ago with a dominant performance.

Team News:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Injury/Availability: RCB have no injury concerns ahead of the fixture

Tactics & Matchups:

RR's PowerPlay bowling has been a tale of two halves: Jofra Archer, and everyone else. The England quick has picked up six wickets in the phase while going at under eight an over. The rest have managed just two wickets collectively, conceding at 9.10. With a touch of pragmatism likely needed to conquer the Chinnaswamy surface, RCB would do well to be selective about who they target, and when they do it.

Probable XII: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma

Rajasthan Royals

Injury/Availability: Sanju Samson, the regular RR captain, has stayed back in Jaipur as he looks to shrug off a side injury that kept him out of the previous game.

Tactics & Matchups:

Fifteen wickets have fallen in the PowerPlay across three games at the Chinnaswamy, the most at any venue this season. The scoring rate in this phase, just 7.27, is also the lowest across venues. And yet, this is where the Royals have often thrived. They've lost the fewest wickets in the first six overs (7), average a formidable 69.85, second only to Gujarat Titans, and their run rate of 10.18 is bettered only by Punjab Kings. It's a phase where they'll fancy asserting themselves, regardless of the surface's quirks.

They might also consider trading an extra spinner for a pacer at this venue. Kwena Maphaka enjoyed a lengthy stint on the match eve, and like Fazalhaq Farooqi, also brings a left-arm angle against a right-heavy line-up.

Probable XII: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag (c), Nitish Rana, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Wandindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana/Kwena Maphaka, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey

In the spotlight: Phil Salt and Riyan Parag

When Jofra Archer and Phil Salt last crossed paths in Jaipur, it was a fiery duel. Archer laid the trap - short, sharp and relentless - and Salt, ever the aggressor, took the bait more than once and took Archer down. Since then, Salt has twice fallen in the first over to the short ball, both times to Arshdeep Singh. As round two with Archer looms, the question lingers: will Salt back himself to go for it despite those two reversals against Arshdeep?

Returning from shoulder surgery and rehab, Riyan Parag hasn't been in anywhere near the form he exhibited during a breakout IPL 2024. And he has had more than just that to wrestle with: captaincy duties in half of RR's matches so far have added another layer of weight. His 39 against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) nearly saw RR home, but his dismissal with 19 needed off 12 proved costly in a crushing loss. With six games to go and playoffs hopes hanging by a thread, Parag must find that spark again - not just for himself, but for a team in need of a lift.

Pitch and conditions

The skies over Bengaluru have cleared, and the city has experienced harsh sun most days. The ground staff has covered the Chinnaswamy pitch with two layers of hessian over the past two days, shielding it like a secret. Conditions here this season have been a bit like 2017, when a drainage overhaul brought slow surfaces and low-scoring games. All told, both camps arrive armed with deep local intel, and in RR's corner is head coach Rahul Dravid, a man who knows this ground as well as anyone. Now, it's a question of who can read the signs best.

Ab kya hi bolu…we are in Chinnaswami yet again

Team news and likely XIIs

RCB are unlikely to change their combination, barring last-minute niggles or injuries.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Tim David, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Yash Dayal, 12 Suyash Sharma.

Samson hasn't travelled with the squad to Bengaluru as he nurses a side strain. With the ball, Sandeep Sharma has been off-colour in the last two games. He conceded 19 in a momentum-turning final over against DC and then went for 55 in four overs in their game against LSG. If RR want to look past him, there's Akash Madhwal waiting in the wings.

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag (capt), 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Shubham Dubey, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Maheesh Theekshana, 11 Tushar Deshpande, 12 Sandeep Sharma/Akash Madhwal.

Stats and trivia

RCB's spinners have struggled at home, picking up just one wicket in 15 overs at an average of 144 and an economy of 9.6. Away, they have been far more effective, claiming 15 wickets at 35.1 with an economy of 8.5.

Virat Kohli has hit unbeaten half-centuries in each of RCB's three successful chases this season, living up to his chase-master reputation.

RCB are the only team who have gone at an economy rate of under eight in the powerplay this season.

RR's economy rate of 12.5 in overs 17-20 is the second-worst of all teams this season.

Archer has single-handedly owned RR's powerplay while bowling, picking up six wickets in 17 overs at an economy rate of 8.2. The others have picked up three wickets in 31 overs.

After a slow start to the season - 34 runs in his first three games - Yashasvi Jaiswal offers hope for RR, having hit four quick half-centuries in his last five innings.

Did you know?

- RCB have lost each of their last four night games against RR. Interestingly, they've emerged victorious in the last five day games in this matchup.

- Shimron Hetmyer, a big-ticket retention for RR, has managed only 115 runs from eight innings so far and has struggled to close out games

- Sandeep Sharma has dismissed Kohli seven times in T20s and in Jaipur, Kohli was dropped off the first ball of Sandeep's spell.