Tim David's 26-ball 50 and Josh Hazlewood's 3-14 were both in vain as Ricky Ponting's Punjab Kings punished RCB for a poor batting display
Match Report:
ScorecardDavid's fifty, Hazlewood's treble in vain against Kings
Ricky Ponting's Punjab Kings have moved equal top of the Indian Premier League after inflicting a third successive home defeat on Royal Challengers Bengaluru despite the best efforts of Tim David and Josh Hazlewood.
David battered a 26-ball unbeaten 50 after coming to the crease with his team 5-33 in the seventh over of a truncated match. But his teammates only mustered 45 off 58 balls as RCB were restricted to 9-95.
Hazlewood then took 3-14, including the wicket of Josh Inglis (14), but was unable to prevent Kings winning with 11 balls to spare.
Victory was wrapped up when Marcus Stoinis, recalled for the out-of-touch Glenn Maxwell, smoked his second ball for six over mid-wicket.
Rain, then a wet outfield, delayed the start and reduced the match to 14 overs apiece. Within four overs RCB had lost Phil Salt, Virat Kohli and Liam Livingstone for 26 runs, the latter to Xavier Bartlett (1-26).
Skipper Rajat Patidar made 23 but no one else apart from David reached double figures and RCB had slumped to 9-63 by the time Hazlewood joined him with 13 balls left.
With David farming the strike, and hitting three successive sixes, the pair added 32, Hazlewood facing one ball, a RCB record for the tenth wicket.
Marco Jansen took 2-10, Yuzvendra Chahal 2-11 and Arshdeep Singh 3-23 off their three overs each.
Curiously, RCB did not open with Hazlewood and Kings got off to a solid start being 1-32 before the Australian reduced them to 4-53. But Nehal Wadera cracked 33 off 19 balls to ease any nerves and RCB were never realistically in the game.
Kings have not qualified for the play-offs since 2014, when, captained by George Bailey and with Maxwell in commanding form, they topped the regular season table before losing in the final.
Finishes of eighth and ninth in the last two seasons have led to another overhaul with Ponting brought in as head coach and Shreyas Iyer an expensively-recruited captain.
Besides Maxwell, Stoinis, Inglis and Bartlett they also have Aaron Hardie on the playing staff, Brad Haddin as Ponting's assistant and James Hopes as bowling coach. So far their Australian-accented approach is working.
Australians at IPL 2025
Chennai Super Kings: Nathan Ellis ($365k)
Delhi Capitals: Mitch Starc ($2.15m), Jake Fraser-McGurk ($1.65m)
Kolkata Knight Riders: Spencer Johnson ($510k)
Lucknow Super Giants: Justin Langer (coach), Mitch Marsh ($623k)
Punjab Kings: Ricky Ponting (coach), Marcus Stoinis ($2m), Glenn Maxwell ($770k), Josh Inglis ($475k), Aaron Hardie ($228k), Xavier Bartlett ($146k)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood ($2.29m), Tim David ($547k)
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins ($3.7m), Travis Head ($1.2m), Adam Zampa ($440k)
2025 IPL standings
| Team | M | W | L | T | N/R | NRR | Ded. | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
GUT
|
12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.795 | 0 | 18 |
|
2
RCB
|
12 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.482 | 0 | 17 |
|
3
KXI
|
12 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.389 | 0 | 17 |
|
4
MI
|
12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1.156 | 0 | 14 |
|
5
DEL
|
12 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0.26 | 0 | 13 |
|
6
KKR
|
13 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0.193 | 0 | 12 |
|
7
LSG
|
11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -0.469 | 0 | 10 |
|
8
SUN
|
11 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 1 | -1.192 | 0 | 7 |
|
9
RAJ
|
13 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | -0.701 | 0 | 6 |
|
10
CSK
|
12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | -0.992 | 0 | 6 |
M: Matches played
W: Wins
L: Losses
T: Ties
N/R: No results
NRR: Net Run Rate
Ded.: Deductions
PTS: Total points