Hazlewood and Kohli's Royal Challengers win first IPL title

Royal Challengers Bengaluru have won their maiden Indian Premier League title, beating Punjab Kings by six runs in the final of the T20 competition in Ahmedabad.

Put into bat on Tuesday, Bengaluru posted a modest 9-190 before restricting the Ricky Ponting-coached Kings to 7-184 at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Virat Kohli top-scored for his side with 43 but it was their bowling which secured Bengaluru's memorable victory.

Josh Hazlewood claimed one wicket, but fellow Australians Josh Inglis (39) and Marcus Stoinis (6) ended up on the losing side.

Bengaluru finished runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016, but finally claimed the ultimate prize, thanks largely to Krunal Pandya's sensational spell of 2-17 in four overs.

With an insurmountable 29 runs required from the final four balls, Kohli was in tears in the field once he realised Bengaluru were about to shed the underachiever's tag that has stuck to them since the inaugural edition of the league in 2008.

Afterwards, a jubilant Hazlewood said: "The wicket was a little bit up and down. Our guys batted really well to post that score – everyone just chipping in – and the bowlers held their nerve, so great result.

"It probably means everything to (Kohli). Some of us come and go in the franchises but to be there from the start and to slug it out for 18 seasons and to get a result tonight, I think we'll see a bit of emotion there."

Hazlewood and Inglis will now fly straight to England after the final for next week's World Test Championship decider against South Africa.

RCB's other Aussie Tim David missed the final having not fully recovered from a hamstring injury that has kept him out of action since May 23.

Kohli anchored his side's their innings but Bengaluru could never really break loose; they were 2-87 at the midway stage but with enough overs left for other players to bat around Kohli.

Azmatullah Omarzai deceived Kohli with a bouncer and took a running, tumbling return catch to dismiss the superstar batter.

Jitesh Sharma's 24 off 10 balls injected some momentum into Bengaluru's stop-start innings and Liam Livingstone made 25 but their side could not really capitalise in the death overs.

Punjab's Kyle Jamieson claimed 3-48, while his new ball partner Arshdeep Singh bowled an excellent three-wicket final over, conceding only three runs.

Punjab got off to a rollicking start in their chase and opener Prabhsimran Singh was lucky to survive on nine when Romario Shepherd spilled a chance in the deep.

Hazlewood, the luckless Bengaluru bowler, did not have to wait long for success though, as Phil Salt took a stunning catch in the deep to remove Priyansh Arya (24) and break the 43-run opening stand.

Krunal Pandya removed Prabhsimran and Shepherd redeemed himself by dismissing Punjab's in-form captain Shreyas Iyer to turn the match on its head.

Left-arm spinner Pandya put Bengaluru on top when he dismissed the dangerous Inglis before Bhuvneshwar Kumar effectively sealed the match in RCB's favour when he dismissed Nehal Wadhera and Stoinis in the same over, who had hit his first ball for six but fell for the same number the very next ball.

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), Mitch Owen ($550k), 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	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Punjab Kings KXI	14	9	4	0	1	0.372	0	19
2 Royal Challengers Bengaluru Men RCB	14	9	4	0	1	0.301	0	19
3 Gujarat Titans GUT	14	9	5	0	0	0.254	0	18
4 Mumbai Indians MI	14	8	6	0	0	1.142	0	16
5 Delhi Capitals Men DEL	14	7	6	0	1	0.011	0	15
6 Sunrisers Hyderabad SUN	14	6	7	0	1	-0.241	0	13
7 Lucknow Super Giants LSG	14	6	8	0	0	-0.376	0	12
8 Kolkata Knight Riders KKR	14	5	7	0	2	-0.305	0	12
9 Rajasthan Royals RAJ	14	4	10	0	0	-0.549	0	8
10 Chennai Super Kings CSK	14	4	10	0	0	-0.647	0	8

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points