Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Punjab Kings by a huge margin in Dharamshala on Sunday to seal their place in the IPL 2026 playoffs. Punjab Kings, meanwhile, suffered their sixth straight defeat of the season.
RCB came into the match without regular captain Rajat Patidar. The team needed someone to step up in the middle order. Venkatesh Iyer answered the call with a brilliant innings.
Venkatesh Iyer and pacers dominate for RCB
RCB got off to a strong start through Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal. The pair added 76 runs before Padikkal lost his wicket. Venkatesh Iyer then walked in at number four and changed the momentum of the innings.
The left-hander started carefully against Harpreet Brar and Yuzvendra Chahal. But once settled, he began attacking freely. He played smart shots on both sides of the wicket and punished the loose deliveries.
Venkatesh accelerated in the middle overs. He hit two boundaries off Brar and followed it with two sixes against Chahal. He then attacked Lockie Ferguson in the 17th over with two sixes and a four. One of those sixes helped him complete his first fifty of the season in just 33 balls.
He also played clever shots at the death against Azmatullah Omarzai. Venkatesh remained one of the biggest positives for RCB as he scored 73 runs from only 40 balls, including eight fours and four sixes. His knock guided RCB to a massive total of 222 runs.
PBKS never recovered during the chase. Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck in the first over by dismissing Priyansh Arya for a duck. He later removed Prabhsimran Singh as well.
Rasikh Salam Dar then dismissed PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer for just one run. Punjab Kings slipped to 19/3 early in the innings and could never bounce back.
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