Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in the 34th match of IPL 2025 on 18 April. Today also marks the “birthday” of the IPL.
Rajat Patidar vs Yuzvendra Chahal
Rajat Patidar is a great player of spin, but today he will face one of the best spinners in the IPL, if not the best. Chahal was out of form this season, but his heroics in the last match won the game for PBKS single-handedly. The wily-leg spinner almost replicated his 2022 act against KKR, when he snatched the match away from their grip. However, past records show that the current RCB captain has dominated Chahal in the IPL, scoring 32 runs off 17 balls without getting dismissed even once.
Virat Kohli vs Arshdeep Singh
Kohli, the highest run-getter in the IPL, will face Arshdeep Singh, who can swing the ball both ways. It’s always tough for a right-handed batter to face an in-swinging yorker, and if Arshdeep can pull off that dream delivery, PBKS will have the edge over RCB. But so far, the RCB has dominated Arshdeep in the IPL — scoring 79 runs off 41 balls and getting dismissed only once.
Shreyas Iyer vs Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Iyer, who is having a great IPL season with 260 runs from six matches at an average of 62.50 and a strike rate of 204.92, including three fifties, will be up against the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The right-arm pacer has had the upper hand in this matchup, having bowled 49 balls to the PBKS skipper, conceding only 44 runs and dismissing him three times. Iyer’s strike rate against Bhuvneshwar hasn’t even touched 90.