Royal Challengers Bengaluru registered a 23-run triumph over Punjab Kings at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala in the IPL 2026 encounter between the sides on Sunday as the defending champions went atop the league table.
RCB mocked PBKS with a post on social media which read, ‘Masterclass 101: What not to tweet’ after the side from Punjab had mocked RCB’s historic lowest total of 49 runs with a tweet earlier in the season. The side have slipped to a string of six defeats after they started with a purple patch of seven unbeaten games.
A class that we won’t need. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/07joCAapmH
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 17, 2026
Punjab won the toss and put RCB to bat first as Virat Kohli opened the innings with Jacob Bethell. Bethell was
removed cheaply yet gains as he fell to Punjab Kings spinner Harpreet Brar for just 11 runs off 7 deliveries AS the Englishman’s sub-par showings this season continued.
Devdutt Padikkal chipped in with a solid 43 run knock before Kohli went on to bring up yet another half-century. Padikkal fell to Harpreet Brar before Kohli was removed by Yuzvendra Chahal for 58 runs.
Venkatesh took charge of the finish with his sound innings as Tim David contributed 28 runs off 12 balls to take RCB too the mammoth total.
Rashik Sal was the wrecker-in-chief with the ball for RCB as he scalped 3 wickets while defending the target, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar registered two wickets. Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, and Romario Shepherd picked up a wicket each with Shashank Singh the only batter for PBKS to get past the half-century mark.
Aussies Cooper Connolly and Marcus Stoinis chipped in with 37 run knocks, while Suryansh Shedge added 35 runs.
