Hosts Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) held their nerve to edge Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by two runs in a last-ball thriller in IPL 2025 on Saturday night (May 3).

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With the win, RCB moved to the top of the IPL table with 16 points from 11 matches. CSK remain at the bottom with just four points from 11 games.

17-year-old Mhatre sizzles

Chasing 214, CSK rode on 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre’s 94 (48 balls; 9×4, 5×6) but ended up at 211 for five.

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With this, RCB did a double over CSK this season, a first for them. They had beaten CSK in Chennai on March 28, ending a 17-year wait at Chepauk.

Mhatre had an astute partner in veteran Ravindra Jadeja (77 not out off 45 balls), as they together milked 114 runs for the third wicket.

The Mumbai lad began the innings by punishing seasoned pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 26 runs in the Power Play segment and he never really let that tempo down.

With the win, RCB moved to the top of the IPL table with 16 points from 11 matches.

Mhatre brought into practice all the technical nous and batting cleverness that he learned from hours of net sessions at the famed Oval maidan in Mumbai to poleaxe a RCB bowling attack sans injured pacer Josh Hazlewood.

A lot of eyebrows were raised when Mhatre was picked as an injury replacement of Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of Gujarat’s Urvil Patel and Kerala’s Salman Nizar.

But both CSK skipper Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming had full confidence in Mhatre once they saw him at the team’s selection nets ahead of this IPL, and he repaid their faith with dividends tonight.

Dayal delivers again in final over

Jadeja, a grizzly-haired CSK veteran who got reprieves on 57 and 69, too, deserved a full set of compliments for staying with the young man at the other end and guiding him through a tension-filled atmosphere.

But a rather tired-looking heave off Lungi Ngidi ended Mhatre’s masterpiece as he lofted him straight to Krunal Pandya in the deep.

At that stage, CSK were 172 for two in 16.2 overs, needing 42 more runs for the victory.

Ngidi dismissed Dewald Brevis for nought to turn the tide in favour of RCB, as Yash Dayal had 15 runs to defend in the final over.

Dayal dismissed Dhoni to leave CSK to make 13 runs off three balls, which eventually became four runs in one ball.

However, the left-arm pacer’s full-length delivery allowed Shivam Dube to take only a single off the last ball.

Kohli, Bethel, Shepherd shine

Earlier, Virat Kohli, Jacob Bethel, and Romario Shepherd powered Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a massive 213 for five.

The Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni decided to bowl first after winning the toss, but the decision played handsomely into RCB’s hands as Kohli and Bethel merrily chugged along to make 97 runs in just 9.5 overs for the opening wicket.

Kohli (62 off 33 balls) and Bethel (55 off 33) exploited a fuss-free pitch to telling effect, and their job was made much easier by the wrong lines of CSK bowlers, which was evidenced when Shepherd (53 not out off 14 balls; 4×4, 6X6) made the joint second fastest fifty in the IPL.

The fastest fifty of the IPL was struck off just 13 balls by Yashasvi Jaiswal in 2023, while both KL Rahul (in 2018) and Pat Cummins (2022) had also earlier made half centuries off 14 balls.

Khaleel Ahmed, who has the highest number of dot balls in this IPL at 110, tried to test Kohli with snorter, but it was pulled thunderously over fine leg for a six.

In the very next ball, the left-arm pacer went for a fuller length delivery, but it was on Kohli’s pads as the batter sent the ball soaring over square leg for a maximum, and all he needed was a simple unlocking of his wrist.

Bethel was more brutal. The England left-hander smashed Ahmed for three successive fours in the first over itself, all rasping cuts and forceful drives, as RCB raced out of the traps.

The 21-year-old had a slice of fortune too, as Ravindra Jadeja and Matheesha Pathirana collided with each other to spill a catch off pacer Anshul Kamboj.

Shepherd-David stand

Bethel was on 27 then, and he soon brought up his maiden IPL fifty with a reverse scoop off Jadeja.

Kohli too reached his fifty soon after with a routine slap through the cover region for a four off Jadeja.

Just as the alliance was blossoming further, Bethel skied Pathirana for Dewald Brevis to complete a fine catch running in from the boundary line.

It gave some respite to the CSK bowlers, who found a way to stem the free flow of runs using cutters and into-the-deck deliveries, particularly Sam Curran (1/34) and Pathirana (3/36).

Curran consumed Kohli with a slow delivery, which did not allow the batter to execute a ramp over Ahmed at gully.

But Kohli and Bethel had given RCB a superb platform as the home side were placed at 121 for 2 in the 12th over.

However, the improved lengths of CSK bowlers and a tinge of slowness in the track made RCB settle for 37 runs between overs 12 and 18 as batters like Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Rajat Patidar failed to force the pace.

But Shepherd waded into Ahmed (65 runs in 3 overs), slamming him for four sixes and two fours in the 19th over, which yielded 33 runs.

Shepherd and Tim David raised their fifty stand for the sixth wicket in just 14 balls, and the latter contributed a princely two runs in that alliance.

(With agency inputs)