Rajasthan Royals (RR) suffered a narrow 11-run defeat in an IPL 2025 match against Royals Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday (April 24).

Chasing 206 to win, the inaugural IPL champions were cruising at 188/5 with wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel batting on 47 off just 32 balls.

However, Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood turned the game on its head in the penultimate over to help RCB end their winless streak at home this season.

Speaking to the broadcasters after the game, RR skipper Riyan Parag said they had themselves to blame for failing to finish the job during the chase, which was also the case in their Super Over loss against Delhi Capitals as well as the two-run defeat against Lucknow Super Giants.

“We did really well with the ball. I thought it was a 210-215 wicket, we held them back really well. Halfway through our innings we were in the driver’s seat. We’ve got ourselves to blame. Didn’t show enough intent against spinners,” Parag said at the post-match presentation.

“(How much of it is mental?) It does play a part but support staff has given us a lot of freedom and the onus is on us to go ahead and show that freedom and play freely. It's a tournament where if you make a slight mistake, you'll pay for it. We speak a lot as groups. We try to be very honest with our conversations about how everyone was feeling in different situations. We've spoken about situations like this, just couldn't execute it tonight,” he added.

This was Rajasthan Royals’ fifth defeat in a row, and they are now virtually out of the playoffs race with seven defeats in nine outings.

“We’ve got to play for pride now. There are a lot of fans who support us. There are a lot of people who work really hard for us to come out here and play in a tournament like this. Have got to do it for them. Have to be very grateful and honoured to play this game and play for this franchise and we’ve got to show it next time we play,” Parag, who filled in for the injured Sanju Samson as captain, remarked.

On the other hand, RCB captain Rajat Patidar praised the bowlers for the fight that they showed after the halfway stage of the run chase. Yashasvi Jaiswal had struck a fiery 49 off 19 deliveries to help RR race to 72/2 inside the powerplay, and the visitors were sitting pretty at 113/3 at the end of the 10th over, thanks to rapid starts by Parag (22) and Nitish (28).

Left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya (2/31) stemmed the flow of runs in the middle overs while getting rid of Parag as well as Nitish to help RCB mount pressure on the RR in the middle overs despite their solid start.

Hazlewood carried on from where Pandya left off and bowled two outstanding overs in the death to help RCB restrict RR to 194/9 in 20 overs.

“That was a much-needed win. Today the wicket was different and all credit goes to the bowlers after the 10th over. The way they showed courage was tremendous. Initially they batted beautifully, credit goes to them as well. We were searching for wickets, when you get wickets only you can stop runs. I always back my instincts first but we have a team of great leaders and their inputs helps a lot,” Patidar said.