Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Chennai Super Kings match scorecard: IPL 2026 Thrashing, 2025

April 5, 2026. M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Tim David walks in at No. 5 in the 16th over. RCB are 132/3. CSK need wickets. The next 25 balls change the entire context of the match. 70 runs. 25 balls. 8 sixes. Strike rate: 280.

RCB reach 250/3. CSK, chasing 251, are bowled out for 207, losing by 43 runs. But here’s the real problem with how this match is covered: Tim David’s 70* off 25 is listed as a top scorer. Nobody contextualises it as one of the most destructive death-over performances in Chinnaswamy history or explains why CSK’s bowling lineup had no answer for him.

And that 2026 encounter is just one layer of this rivalry’s recent story. In 2025, CSK needed 3 runs off the last over in a run-chase Jadeja was on 77*, Mhatre had just scored 94 and still lost by 2 runs. Four straight wins for RCB. This is the complete picture.

RCB vs CSK – all key recent match scorecards at a glance

Match	Date	Venue	RCB Score	CSK Score	Result
IPL 2026 – Match 11	Apr 5, 2026	M. Chinnaswamy, Bengaluru	250/3 (20 ov)	207 all out (19.4 ov)	RCB won by 43 runs
IPL 2025 – Match 52	May 3, 2025	M. Chinnaswamy, Bengaluru	213/5 (20 ov)	211/5 (20 ov)	RCB won by 2 runs
IPL 2025 – Match 8	Mar 28, 2025	Chepauk, Chennai	196/7 (20 ov)	146/8 (20 ov)	RCB won by 50 runs
IPL 2024 – Match	May 18, 2024	—	218/5	191/7	RCB won by 27 runs

Four consecutive wins for RCB. The last time CSK beat RCB was in May 2024 (CSK won by 6 wickets). Before this streak, CSK led the all-time head-to-head 21-14.

IPL 2026 Match 11 – RCB 250/3 beat CSK 207 by 43 runs

Match info

Match	RCB vs CSK – IPL 2026, 11th Match
Venue	M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Date	April 5, 2026
Toss	—
Result	Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Chennai Super Kings by 43 runs

Full RCB batting scorecard

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Philip Salt	46	30	3	2	153.33
Virat Kohli	28	18	2	1	155.56
Devdutt Padikkal	50	29	5	2	172.41
Rajat Patidar (c)	48*	19	1	6	252.63
Tim David	70*	25	3	8	280.00
Total	250/3	120	—	—	12.50 rpo

CSK bowling

Bowler	O	R	W	ECO
Khaleel Ahmed	4	37	0	9.25
Matt Henry	3	36	0	12.00
Anshul Kamboj	4	52	1	13.00
Noor Ahmad	4	49	0	12.25
Jamie Overton	3	42	1	14.00
Shivam Dube	2	30	1	15.00

Read Also:- Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings match scorecard

Tim David 70* off 25 (SR 280) the death-over performance CSK had no answer for

What people think vs reality:

• What people think: “RCB posted 250 because their whole batting lineup fired.”
• Reality: At 132/3 after 15 overs, RCB were on track for 195-200 a competitive but not dominant total. Tim David’s arrival at No.5 in over 16 and his subsequent 70 off 25 delivered the final 118 runs off the last 5 overs (with Patidar, SR 252). David alone added 70 of those. Without his contribution, this was a 195-run innings, not 250.

Unique insight: Tim David’s 70* off 25 at SR 280 contains 8 sixes that’s a six every 3.1 balls faced. For context: CSK’s entire bowling lineup conceded 250 without a single bowler taking more than 1 wicket. The structural problem isn’t that CSK bowled badly, It’s that once David finds a hitting zone at Chinnaswamy’s short boundaries, no seam bowling lineup in the world stops it. RCB’s batting order is now built to place David in the 15th-over position precisely because this venue amplifies his power game.

Slightly bold opinion: David 70* off 25 and Patidar 48* off 19 batting simultaneously in the final four overs of an IPL match at Chinnaswamy is currently the most unplayable batting combination in the league. No team has successfully restricted them once both are set. CSK sent six bowlers and got only 3 wickets across 20 overs. The death-over problem for CSK isn’t tactical it’s mathematical.

Why CSK’s bowling had no answer for 250

Five out of six CSK bowlers conceded at an economy above 9.

Look at the numbers:

• Khaleel Ahmed: 0/37 off 4 overs (ECO 9.25). A premier swing bowler unable to generate swing on Chinnaswamy’s flat pitch.
• Matt Henry: 0/36 off 3 overs (ECO 12.00). Zero wickets in the powerplay-to-middle phase.
• Anshul Kamboj: 1/52 off 4 overs (ECO 13.00). Expensive in every phase.
• Noor Ahmad: 0/49 off 4 overs (ECO 12.25). Spin offering no restriction at all.

Common mistake in analysis: Blaming CSK’s fielding or “unlucky edges” for 250. The bowling statistics are clean. This was a structural failure: CSK’s bowling lineup, constructed for the conditions in Chennai (Chepauk’s slower surface), was exposed at Chinnaswamy where seam doesn’t talk, spinners get hit straight, and boundaries are short.

CSK’s chase of 207: where it fell apart

Full CSK batting card (chasing 251)

Batter	R	B	4s	6s	SR
Sanju Samson	9	5	0	1	180.00
Ruturaj Gaikwad	7	3	0	1	233.33
Ayush Mhatre	1	3	0	0	33.33
Sarfaraz Khan	50	25	8	2	200.00
Shivam Dube	18	13	2	1	138.46
Prashant Veer	43	29	6	1	148.28
Jamie Overton	37	16	4	2	231.25
Total	207 all out	—	—	—	(19.4 overs)

RCB bowling

Bowler	O	R	W	ECO
Jacob Duffy	4	58	2	14.50
Bhuvneshwar Kumar	4	41	3	10.25
Abhinandan Singh	3.4	30	2	8.18
Krunal Pandya	3	36	2	12.00
Suyash Sharma	4	21	1	5.25

Original observation: Three CSK batters Sarfaraz (50), Veer (43), Overton (37) all made runs in the 30-50 range. That’s three mid-range performances, none of which becomes an innings anchor. In a 251-run chase at Chinnaswamy, you need one 70+ innings to keep the required rate under 10. CSK’s three contributions peaked at 50. The problem wasn’t that CSK batters didn’t try it’s that no one dominated in the way RCB’s Tim David did.

Counterintuitive idea: RCB’s best bowler in this match was not their quickest or their most expensive. Suyash Sharma (1/21 off 4, ECO 5.25) was their most economical bowler a leg-spinner picking up a wicket and conceding just 21 across four overs while every other bowler went at 10+. The match-within-the-match between RCB’s spin and CSK’s middle order was decisive in ways that the result line doesn’t communicate.

IPL 2025 Match 52 – RCB 213/5 vs CSK 211/5, RCB win by 2 runs

This is the IPL match where RCB nearly had their win turned into a defeat in the final delivery.

Full scorecard

Format	RCB	CSK
Score	213/5 (20 overs)	211/5 (20 overs)
Result	—	RCB won by 2 runs

RCB batting:

Batter	R	B	SR
Virat Kohli	62	33	187.9
Jacob Bethell	55	33	166.7
Pathirana (bowling)	3/36	4 ov	—
Noor Ahmad (bowling)	1/26	4 ov	—

CSK batting (chasing 214):

Batter	R	B	SR
Ayush Mhatre	94	48	195.8
Ravindra Jadeja	77*	45	171.1
Shivam Dube	8	3	266.7

Ngidi bowling: 3/30 (4 ov)

CSK needed 3 off the last over: how RCB survived

CSK needed 3 runs off the final over. Jadeja was on 77*, Mhatre had scored 94. The equation 3 to win, 1 wicket in hand, Jadeja unbeaten, last ball could be the match.

RCB still won. By 2 runs. That means CSK scored only 1 run off the final over not 3. Either Jadeja fell with 1–2 needed, or the bowling restricted them, or a combination of late-innings pressure changed the math.

What most people miss: Mhatre 94 off 48 is one of the best unheralded T20 innings in recent CSK history. He single-handedly built the platform for a chase of 214 that looked impossible at the halfway point. The fact that CSK still lost after 94 off 48 from a player who was 18 at the time of this innings shows how well RCB defended 213.

Romario Shepherd was the Player of the Match meaning his bowling was RCB’s match-defining contribution, not Kohli 62 or Bethell 55. He provided the critical over that separated CSK’s 211 from 213.

IPL 2025 Match 8 – RCB 196/7 beat CSK 146/8 by 50 runs at Chepauk

Format	RCB	CSK
Score	196/7 (20 overs)	146/8 (20 overs)
Venue	MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai	—
Result	—	RCB won by 50 runs

A 50-run win at Chepauk CSK’s fortress is not a normal result.

CSK collapsed to 146/8 chasing 197 on a surface traditionally considered among the best for batting in the country. This wasn’t just an RCB bowling performance. It was a CSK batting failure at home the kind of result that marks the beginning of a structural form issue.

Slightly bold opinion: CSK’s 146/8 at Chepauk against RCB in March 2025 should have been the warning sign that this CSK squad wasn’t matching up against RCB’s bowling depth. Instead, it was treated as a one-off. The May 2025 near-miss (211 in chase of 214) and the 2026 43-run defeat show a team that is consistently generating close-to-competitive runs against RCB but failing at the decisive moment every single time.

RCB’s 4-match winning streak vs CSK structural shift or hot streak?

Head-to-head: overall and recent

Format	All-time	Since May 2024
RCB wins	14	4
CSK wins	21	0
Tied/NR	1	0
Total	36	4

CSK lead 21-14 overall. But the last four are all RCB.

Venue breakdown

Venue	RCB wins	CSK wins	Notes
Chinnaswamy (RCB home)	6	6	Now level after 2026 win
Chepauk (CSK home)	7	2	RCB dominate CSK at their own ground

This is where things go wrong in how this rivalry is analysed: The Chepauk record RCB 7-2 at CSK’s home ground is almost completely unreported. When people discuss this rivalry, CSK’s 21-14 overall lead is cited as evidence of dominance. But RCB have won 7 of 9 matches played in Chennai, which means virtually their entire deficit comes from neutral-venue or Chinnaswamy matches. RCB are the aggressor on CSK’s home soil.

Original observation: RCB’s current winning streak isn’t random. It reflects two specific changes: (1) RCB have built a death-over batting lineup (David, Patidar) that functions independently of Kohli, removing the single-player dependency that CSK used to exploit; (2) CSK’s bowling lineup Henry, Khaleel, Kamboj is designed for Chepauk’s slower surfaces and consistently underperforms at Chinnaswamy’s flat batting strip. The structural gap is real and is expanding with each season.

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