"Aakhir wo din aa hi gaya" - Fans react as Rajat Patidar-led side break their home jinx in RCB vs RR IPL 2025 match
Fans shared their reactions to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally managing to open their account at their home in IPL 2025. RCB managed to win the game by 11 runs against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Thursday (April 24) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Batting first, the quickfire 61-run stand between Phil Salt (23) and Virat Kohli set the tone for RCB. Then, Devdutt Padikkal (50) and Kohli (70) continued their purple patch with a 95-run stand to put pressure on the RR bowlers.
Tim David (23) and Jitesh Sharma (20*) delivered quick-fire cameos to push RCB's total to 205. Sandeep Sharma was the pick of the bowlers for the Royals with two wickets.
Thereafter, RR got a sensational start with Yashasvi Jaiswal (49 off 19), who smashed bowlers all around the park. However, his dismissal resulted in RR facing the heat of a high required run rate.
At this moment, Nitish Rana (28) and Riyan Parag (22) failed to continue their momentum. After an early dismissal of Shimron Hetmyer (11), the pressure was on Dhruv Jurel, who played too many dot balls.
Jurel (47) managed to find his groove and put RR in the driver's seat, with 18 needed off two overs. However, Josh Hazlewood produced a clutch performance to concede only a solitary run and dismiss Jurel and Jofra Archer (0).
Thereafter, Yash Dayal took an important wicket of Shubham Dubey (12) as RCB managed to restrict RR to 194/9. Hazlewood was the wrecker-in-chief for the home side, with figures of 4/33.
Fans had various memes ready for RCB finally breaking the deadlock of no wins in Bengaluru this season. One of the memes read:
"Aakhir wo din aa hi gaya [The day has finally arrived]"
"First win at home this season wow. 6 wins in 9 games now. The rest 3 games at home are going to be vs CSK, SRH, KKR. Will be really disappointing if RCB doesn't end up in the top 2 after having such a great chance," a user wrote.
"Wow, it's finally over! That 11-month losing streak at home is done. RCB v RR, what a game! Congratulations, RCB," another noted.
"RCB have finally done it!!! Won a home game, even while maintaining the tradition of losing the toss at home. That 19th over by Hazelwood was what set the tone, with Dayal making it game set and match in the final over. Good game," a user posted.
Virat Kohli on RCB winning their first home game in IPL 2025
In the post-match presentation, Virat Kohli breathed a sigh of relief at finally winning their first home game in IPL 2025. As per Kohli, their plan worked out perfectly, which resulted in them emerging as the victor:
"The first challenge here (at this venue) is to win toss and second half it becomes a bit of an 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."
Further, Kohli hailed the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as the 'best place' to play the game and also thanked fans for their unwavering support:
"It (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 have a lot of special memories."