There are two ways to look at Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 42-run loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday (May 23). On the one hand, a heavy defeat like that at the business end of IPL 2025, when four teams are straining to get an edge over each other to finish in the top two, is the worst timing possible. On the other, it’s better to suffer such a defeat in the league stages, with the team already having qualified, than in the playoffs.
What the defeat would have also done is allow RCB to plan for worst-case scenarios. Because the loss to SRH was such a scenario. The bowling without Josh Hazlewood looks markedly different, and the batting also suffered a crippling blow with Tim David’s hamstring injury.
The Hazlewood and David holes
Before the IPL was suspended due to the escalating India-Pakistan tensions, Hazlewood had a good claim to being the bowler of the tournament. He had taken 18 wickets in 10 matches, and conceded runs at just 8.44 despite bowling the toughest overs: powerplay, death, and partnership-breaker. His average (17.27) was good, but his strike rate of just over 12 balls was astounding. It meant Hazlewood was practically taking two wickets per match. His absence was felt keenly as SRH raced to 231 for 6, despite being 164 for 5 in 14.2 overs.
David meanwhile, has been devastating at the death for RCB. Before the SRH game, he had been out just twice in the eight times he batted, and was striking at a phenomenal 193.75. When he came out to bat against SRH – at No.8 due to his injury – he couldn’t even run between the wickets, and his brief stay was evidently painful. If David had been fit and batted at his normal position of No.6, the match could have turned out very differently.
There are talks that Hazlewood could come back for the playoffs after having done the rehab for his shoulder niggle. But there was no clarity on how serious David’s injury was yet. David might be the tougher hole to fill for RCB. But if he’s unavailable, they’ll need to switch up their batting tactics after a season in which the batting has worked superbly.
“You’d rather have that now, than in the Eliminator”
The loss to SRH showed RCB what they need to do to cover for the absences of key players. And opener Phil Salt – who himself was on the sickbed list for quite a few games – said it was much better they had this sort of defeat in the league stages, rather than the playoffs.
“You don’t mind having this game not in the playoffs,” Salt said. “You can take it as a disappointment, or you can take it for what it is. We’ve qualified. We’ve lost a game, and no one likes to lose games of cricket. I’m hating fact that we lost, as well as everybody else in an RCB shirt. But you’d rather have that now, than you would in the Eliminator, say. We’re going to get an opportunity to pick the bones out of it, and have a look at the things we did well and the things we didn’t do so well and come back. We’ve got one more group game, and then headed to the playoffs.”
That final group game, against Lucknow Super Giants, should be a good test of how the rest of RCB’s XI rises to the occasion because they’ve lost batting and bowling firepower. For his part, Salt played down the importance of finishing first or second to have a better shot at playing in the final. RCB might well have to play the Eliminator now, because this defeat has dented their net run-rate too.
“I can’t sit here and tell you that we prefer to finish first, second, third or fourth,” Salt said. “We’ve qualified for the playoffs, and once you’re into the playoffs, you have to go and play in a pretty carefree manner and do what you can to win the trophy.”
RCB have already overcome several hurdles in the past. To now win the trophy they have never won, they will need to overcome a massive setback once again.
