RCB vs RR IPL 2025: Three mistakes made by Rajasthan Royals

For the third consecutive time, Rajasthan Royals couldn’t finish off the chase even though it looked like they would. In pursuit of a 206-run target against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals fell 11 runs short in the 42nd match of the IPL 2025 on Thursday. Jofra Archer, once again, delivered an exceptional spell of four overs, while Yashasvi Jaiswal (49) and Dhruv Jurel (47) led the way with the bat. However, those performances didn’t prove enough as Rajasthan Royals succumbed to their fifth consecutive defeat of the season. 

That loss has further diminished their chances of making it into the playoffs. In this article, we explore three mistakes that Rajasthan Royals made in the RCB vs RR IPL 2025 clash. 

RCB vs RR IPL 2025: Three mistakes made by Rajasthan Royals 

1. Middle-Order fails to take responsibility 

After Yashasvi Jaiswal had provided a great start to the chase, the experienced campaigners, Nitish Rana and Riyan Parag looked to consolidate on that. The duo were timing the ball quite well and seemed to be quite assured during their stay at the crease. 

Given the fact that their lower middle order wasn’t able to finish off the chase on previous occasions, one of them needed to stay till the end and finish it off. However, Rana (28 off 22) and Riyan Parag (22 off 10) lost their wickets at crucial stages in the game and let the momentum shift back in RCB’s favour. 

2.  Fielding errors from RR helped RCB post above-par score 

Skipper Riyan Parag dropped Phil Salt’s catch early in the 2nd over of the innings. Salt was batting on 1 off 4 balls at that time. He went on to score 26 runs before getting dismissed by Phil Salt. But more importantly, RCB didn’t lose a wicket in the powerplay and scored 59 runs in the first six overs. Things could have been different had that catch been taken. 

Devdutt Padikkal smashed 50 runs off just 26 balls against RR. However, he was dropped twice before getting to his landmark. Tushar Deshpande couldn’t hold on to a catch when the southpaw was batting on 28. Later, Dhruv Jurel also dropped his catch in the 14th over. Had those catches been taken, Rajasthan Royals might have restricted Bangalore to a lesser total. 

3. Questionable bowling changes by Riyan Parag 

After RCB had gotten off to a good start, Hasaranga and Riyan Parag slowed down the flow of runs a bit. Only 24 runs came between the 7th and 10th overs as RCB managed 83 for 1 after 10 overs. While Hasaranga bowled one more over after that, Riyan Parag gave the ball to Sandeep Sharma at the other end. Perhaps, he should have bowled one more over and continued to pile further pressure on the opposition. 

RCB picked up the pace between 10th and 15th overs and in a bid to find a breakthrough, Parag brought Jofra Archer back into the attack. The English fast bowler didn’t disappoint as he sent Kohli back on the first ball of the over and gave just 4 runs in that over. Sandeep Sharma picked the wicket of Padikkal in the next over, which meant two new players arrived at the crease. At that stage, RR should have applied more pressure and looked for more wickets. However, Parag took Jofra off the attack and saved his one over to bowl the 20th. That was another glaring mistake from Rajasthan.