Rajat Patidar turned around to his support staff and smiled wryly. This was the third straight time he’d lost the coin toss at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, and with it, another chance to dictate terms at a venue that has flipped its reputation this season. “I want to win a toss there,” he exclaimed in Mullanpur after extending RCB’s unblemished away record to a fifth straight win.

It wasn’t a throwaway line. The Bengaluru pitches have been anything but predictable. No longer a flat-track haven, they’ve punished cross-batted adventurism and demanded some old-school accumulation, a shift that’s turned match templates on their head. RCB, forced to bat first each time, have chased ‘par-plus’ scores without any real sense of what par might look like. That has led to early risks, and their top-order, so assured and commanding on the road, has been caught in the crossfire between bravado and the pitch’s treachery.

In this context, another line from the presentation ceremony in Mullanpur stood out. “I can accelerate, but I want to understand the strengths of other players. Holding one end up at the moment, that’s working for us,” said Virat Kohli. It was revealing, not just about his awareness of team dynamics, but also his evolving role within them. The conditions in Bengaluru may now be nudging him back toward a version of himself he’s consciously moved away from. The anchor role he’s tried to outgrow in T20 cricket resurfaces now as necessity rather than default, to help avoid losing games inside the PowerPlay.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

Injury/Availability: RCB have no injury concerns ahead of the fixture

Tactics & Matchups:

RR’s PowerPlay bowling has been a tale of two halves: Jofra Archer, and everyone else. The England quick has picked up six wickets in the phase while going at under eight an over. The rest have managed just two wickets collectively, conceding at 9.10. With a touch of pragmatism likely needed to conquer the Chinnaswamy surface, RCB would do well to be selective about who they target, and when they do it.

Probable XII: Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma

Rajasthan Royals

Injury/Availability: Sanju Samson, the regular RR captain, has stayed back in Jaipur as he looks to shrug off a side injury that kept him out of the previous game.

Tactics & Matchups:

Fifteen wickets have fallen in the PowerPlay across three games at the Chinnaswamy, the most at any venue this season. The scoring rate in this phase, just 7.27, is also the lowest across venues. And yet, this is where the Royals have often thrived. They’ve lost the fewest wickets in the first six overs (7), average a formidable 69.85, second only to Gujarat Titans, and their run rate of 10.18 is bettered only by Punjab Kings. It’s a phase where they’ll fancy asserting themselves, regardless of the surface’s quirks.

They might also consider trading an extra spinner for a pacer at this venue. Kwena Maphaka enjoyed a lengthy stint on the match eve, and like Fazalhaq Farooqi, also brings a left-arm angle against a right-heavy line-up.

Probable XII: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag (c), Nitish Rana, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Wandindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana/Kwena Maphaka, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey

For RCB, the feeling is that they’re simply too good a team this season to let their home troubles linger much longer. They’ll look on hopefully at their next visitors, a beleaguered Rajasthan Royals outfit battling a deeper slide. Four losses on the bounce, including the last two botched in the final over, have rattled the Royals’ campaign. There’s an imbalance to their playing combinations that has no easy fixes. What they need now, almost counter-intuitively, is the kind of fearless cricket their 14-year-old debutant, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, embodied in their last game: uninhibited and unburdened. Where RCB might need a dash of pragmatism to navigate their home conditions, Rajasthan’s best shot could lie in swinging freely and see what breaks. And they’ll be hoping Bengaluru’s pitch has one more twist of the knife left, only this time,

When: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Rajasthan Royals, Match 42, IPL 2025, April 24, 19:30 IST

Where: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

What to expect: Last week’s showers have cleared out, leaving behind mostly pleasant playing conditions. The pitch, though, still demands application and adaptability from the batters. However, Rahul Dravid, RR’s head coach, reckons the pitch for tomorrow’s game could facilitate high scores. With chasing always offering a clear edge at this venue, captains are unlikely to think twice about bowling first.

Head to head: RCB 16-14 RR. RCB won the return fixture in Jaipur a week ago with a dominant performance.

Did you know?

– RCB have lost each of their last four night games against RR. Interestingly, they’ve emerged victorious in the last five day games in this matchup.

– Shimron Hetmyer, a big-ticket retention for RR, has managed only 115 runs from eight innings so far and has struggled to close out games

– Sandeep Sharma has dismissed Kohli seven times in T20s and in Jaipur, Kohli was dropped off the first ball of Sandeep’s spell.

What they said:

“Obviously we have not played good cricket in our home matches and of course you have to talk about the toss… I think it’s not in my hand. So let’s see and talking about approach, definitely [there will be a relook], because this time, the wickets [here] are a bit tricky over here, tricky and unpredictable, but that is not an excuse. So we will try to adapt the situation as quick as possible.” – Rajat Patidar

“We can’t afford to make many mistakes. We have this stage in the tournament, just over halfway. And we find ourselves at the bottom half of the table. We’ve got to start climbing that table quickly. And we’ve got to start winning games quickly. There are no options. No chances of slipping up anymore. RCB is probably in a position where… I’m sure they also realise that the table is tight. But, the successes they’ve had means that they can afford to have the odd slip up.” – Rahul Dravid

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar(c), Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Rasikh Dar Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh, Liam Livingstone, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi, Mohit Rathee, Swastik Chikara, Abhinandan Singh

Rajasthan Royals Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag(c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kunal Singh Rathore, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma