Bengaluru: A year after silencing the Chinnaswamy crowd by denying MS Dhoni a fairytale finish, the left-arm seamer Yash Dayal turned executioner once more — this time holding his nerve in a cauldron of noise to bowl Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a two-run win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a last-over thriller in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on Saturday.
With 15 required off the final over, the equation tilted dramatically after Dayal bowled a high full toss that Shivam Dube launched for six, reducing the equation to six off three balls. But the 26-year-old stayed ice-cold, nailing three perfect yorkers to keep CSK down to just four runs. Dayal finished with figures of 2 for 36 and was instantly mobbed by teammates as the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium erupted in deafening celebration.
The victory – RCB’s sixth on the bounce – took them to 16 points and within touching distance of the playoffs. It also marked a historic moment: for the first time ever, RCB completed a league double over CSK in the IPL.
But the win wouldn’t have been possible without Romario Shepherd’s brute-force finish earlier in the evening. Walking in with RCB stuttering at 157/5 in the 18th over, Shepherd tore apart CSK’s vaunted death bowling. His 14-ball 50 – the joint second-fastest in IPL history – lifted the hosts to a daunting 213/5, their highest total at home this season.
RCB had started strong after being put in to bat. Debutant Jacob Bethell and the ever-dependable Virat Kohli put up 71 runs in the power-play, with Bethell smashing a 28-ball fifty and Kohli bringing up his 62nd IPL half-century.
The latter’s knock also took him past 500 runs this season and reclaimed the Orange Cap. Kohli’s 50 against CSK further extended his record as the leading run-scorer against a single IPL franchise, now beyond 1,150 runs.
CSK’s chase got off to a cautious start with just 23 runs in the first three overs. But 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre, playing only his fourth IPL match, changed the momentum with a stunning assault on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, taking 26 runs in a single over.
He soon brought up his maiden IPL fifty off just 25 balls and went on to smash 94 off 48, becoming the third-youngest player to score a fifty in the league’s history.
His clean hitting – including two sixes off Shepherd and a majestic 98m pull – brought CSK back into the contest. At the 10-over mark, CSK were 106/2 – their best of the season. Ravindra Jadeja promoted to No. 4, matched Mhatre’s aggression with a fluent 50 off 29, attacking both pace and spin.
But Dayal, for the second consecutive year, held his nerve against the legendary finisher. A pair of searing yorkers followed by another toe-crusher proved enough. Dhoni was caught plumb in front on the final ball – a review showed three reds, and with it, RCB sealed a famous win.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 213/5 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 62, Jacob Bethell 55, Romario Shepherd 53 not out; Matheesha Pathirana 3-63, Noor Ahmad 1-26) beat Chennai Super Kings 211/5 in 20 overs (Ayush Mhatre 94, Ravindra Jadeja 77; Lungi Ngidi 3-30, Krunal Pandya 1-24) by two runs.