Fri Apr 18 14:40:00 UTC 2025: **IPL 2025: Rain Delays RCB vs PBKS Match; Reduced to 14 Overs**
Bengaluru, India – The 34th match of IPL 2025 between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium faced significant delays due to rain. The toss, originally scheduled for 7:00 PM, was postponed repeatedly, eventually taking place much later. Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Persistent rain forced a reduction in the match length to 14 overs per side, with the first four overs designated as the powerplay. Despite the shortened format and rain interruptions, the match eventually commenced.
RCB’s innings got off to a shaky start with Phil Salt (4 runs) being dismissed early. However, Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar steadied the innings, taking the score to 19/1 after two overs.
The playing XIs were as follows:
**Punjab Kings (PBKS):** Priyansh Arya, Nehal Wadhera, Shreyas Iyer (c), Shashank Singh, Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
**Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB):** Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma
The match, initially slated for a 7:30 PM start, experienced a considerable delay due to intermittent showers. The RCB vs PBKS clash is significant given both teams’ positions near the top of the points table, with RCB sitting in third and PBKS in fourth place before the match. The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium’s history shows it favors teams batting first, but this season has seen a different trend. Despite RCB’s home advantage, they had previously lost both matches played at this venue in the season prior to this fixture. The head-to-head record between the two teams going into the match stood at 16 wins for RCB and 17 wins for PBKS in their previous encounters.
First Piper 