Sooryavanshi pyrotechnics help RR to fourth win on the bounce

In a nutshell

An epic rescue act led by skipper Rajat Patidar's 40-ball 63 and lower-order cameos was all in vain as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hacked a 26-ball 78 to script a comfortable six-wicket win for hosts Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati, with two overs to spare. Dhruv Jurel stayed unbeaten on 81 off 43 balls, guiding the team through after his century stand with Sooryavanshi paved the way for RR to stretch their unbeaten streak to four games in IPL 2026.

The match in phases

Brief scores:Royal Challengers Bengaluru 201/8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 63 off 40, Virat Kohli 32 off 16; Ravi Bishnoi 2-32, Jofra Archer 2-33, Brijesh Sharma 2-37) lost to Rajasthan Royals 202/4 in 18 overs (Dhruv Jurel 81* off 43, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78 off 26; Krunal Pandya 2-30, Josh Hazlewood 2-44) by 6 wickets

What did Virat Kohli do?

Hold the top-order together before a mini collapse had RCB in a spot of bother. After losing Phil Salt off the first ball of the contest, to Jofra Archer, Kohli took charge in the Powerplay, making a 10-ball 22 in a quickfire 45-run partnership with Devdutt Padikkal. Kohli found the fence seven times in his 16-ball knock before his wicket opened the floodgates and RCB slipped from 45/1 in the third over to 76/5 in the ninth.

How did they get to 200+ then?

Courtesy Patidar, and a late cameo from Venkatesh Iyer. The RCB skipper held one end together and forged small partnerships to wade through the turbulence and settle in while losing his middle-order batters. He went on the offensive then in the 15th over, with a couple of maximums against Nandre Burger. Patidar dished out similar treatment to Ravi Bishnoi, having raised a 35-ball half-century meanwhile. When Sandeep Sharma sent him packing to dent RCB further, the visitors brought in their impact sub who in turn took on the pacer for 21 runs in the final over to eventually push his side past the 200-run mark.

How good was Sooryavanshi?

Arguably better than anyone else that night. The 15-year-old dealt in boundaries and rained sixes. Of the 97 - yes 97 - that RR whacked in the Powerplay, Sooryavanshi accounted for 57 by himself, in just 18 deliveries. In fact, until the fifth over, Jurel had faced only four deliveries and chipped in three runs to the 52-run stand. The young opener spared neither Bhuvneshwar Kumar nor Josh Hazlewood. The highlight of his blitzkrieg was arguably the fourth over, where a hat-trick of boundaries was followed by a short-ball from the Australian and Sooryavanshi nonchalantly just pulled it over deep square leg to force RCB into an early bowling change.

What was Jurel's contribution?

Jurel hammered home the advantage Sooryavanshi's assault gave RR. He took on Abhinandan Singh for a 24-run last Powerplay over to go from 3 off 4 to a 10-ball 27* and never looked back. Defending 200 without Suyash Sharma was always going to be difficult for RCB who were forced to bring on a batting Impact Sub, and Jurel ensured even the middle-overs hiccup didn't allow the defending champions a way back into the contest. After losing Sooryavanshi and Shimron Hetmyer off successive deliveries, and skipper Riyan Parag next over, Jurel led the way and stitched a 68-run unbroken stand with Ravindra Jadeja to get his team home. With that, he ensured RR remained unbeaten while halting RCB's unbeaten streak.

Where do they go next?

RCB head from east to west, where they'll play Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede on Sunday (April 12). RR, meanwhile, head south, taking on SRH on Monday (April 13).