The IPL 2025 encounter between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals on Thursday saw a bizarre incident when the on-field umpire suffered a ‘brain-fade’ over a LBW decision. In the 10th over of the RR innings, Dhruv Jurel was hit on his pads by a delivery from Krunal Pandya and the umpire gave the decision in RCB’s favour. However, the batter opted for a DRS and replays showed that there was inside edge involved. The third umpire quickly overturned the decision but in a hilarious turn of events, the on-field umpire gave Jurel out before quickly reversing his decision. The incident led to a lot of discussion among fans with Virat Kohli‘s reaction going viral on social media.
Kohli was ecstatic after his side managed to break a three-match losing streak at the home venue of M Chinnaswamy Stadium with a win over Rajasthan Royals (RR), expressing relief at his team’s batting template of having one battter bat long and not forcing attacking shots finally paying off.
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RCB’s three-match losing streak at Bengaluru finally broke, with Virat’s 70-run knock with the bat along with Devdutt Padikkal‘s half-century powering RCB to 205/5, which the Red and Gold side bravely defended against a fighting RR unit, largely due to efforts of Josh Hazlewood (4/33) and Yash Dayal (1/33) in the final two overs.
Following the win, Virat said, “Pretty happy, we discussed a few things as a batting unit and applied ourselves well enough to get a total on the board. The first challenge here (at this venue) is to win toss and second half it becomes a bit of a advantage, we have been fighting hard to get a good score in the first few games, but the template today was for one guy to bat through and the rest of the batters can go attacking and today it really paid off.”
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“There is pace and bounce in the first 3-4 overs, and I think we tried to force too many shots in the last 3 games, and today we let the ball come and adjusted ourselves, and we were able to capitalise on those. We figured out a way to bat now, and in the next few home games, we should be in a better position to get those extra 15-20 runs,” he added.
Virat also credited the Rajasthan batters for putting up a valiant performance while batting and termed the two points earned from the win as “crucial”.
Appreciating the love and support of the ‘Sea of Red’, the ever-supportive RCB fanbase at home, Virat said, “This venue is the best place to play cricket in the IPL, and the fans backed us during good and bad times. It is a special place and has a lot of special memories.”
(With ANI inputs)
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