IPL 2026: Venkatesh Iyer smashes 73; RCB score 222 in 20 overs against PBKS

Venkatesh Iyer (Pic: AFP)

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru scored 222/4 at the end of their 20 overs against the Punjab Kings. Having put into bat, Kohli started off with a bang for the visitors, before Venkatesh Iyer and Tim David gave the innings a strong finish.

Kohli scored yet another half-century before being dismissed for 58 runs off 37 deliveries. Venkatesh Iyer was the star with the bat for RCB as he scored 73 runs in 40 balls. The southpaw's innings included 8 fours and 4 sixes.

Tim David provided a strong finish to the innings and smashed a quickfire 28 runs in 12 balls to take RCB to 222 at the end of their innings.

Harpreet Brar was the best bowler for PBKS, taking 2 wickets in his four overs. The hosts will hope to end their 5-match losing streak and chase down the big total against RCB.

Earlier, Shreyas Iyer was happy to bowl first after winning the toss. The PBKS skipper hoped that his team could recover from the recent slump in form after losing five matches in a row.

"We're going to bowl. I'm not going by the stats, we're clearly seeing how the games pan out. If we bat and bowl well, the toss doesn't matter. I seriously had no clue that this was my 100th game as a captain but it feels great. It feels like a great opportunity for me to win my 100th game (as captain). The bowling has been fantastic, but there are pressure moments where you need to execute and so you can't change the past, nor you can't anticipate the future. Two changes for us (Harpreet) Brar and Lockie (Ferguson) come in." Shreyas Iyer said.

RCB's stand-in captain, Jitesh Sharma, admitted that he would have liked to bowl first too. Sharma further added that Rajat Patidar will be available for the next match.

"We would have loved to bowl first, but the wicket is good and should play well for 40 overs. Rajat is doing fantastic and we should see him in Hyderabad. We are at the business end of the tournament, and I'm happy with how the team is performing, both individually and as an unit. This win can change the entire table - not just for us, but for several other teams as well. Suyash replaces Rajat and Romario replaces Duffy." Jitesh Sharma said.

Confirmed Playing XI for both teams:

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI): Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma(w/c), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh(w), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer(c), Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal