What RCB finally got right in 2025 that led them to maiden IPL triumph

‌An Indian batting core

Multiple match-winners

Think of the game against Gujarat Titans, where Liam Livingstone composedly struck a rapid half-century to keep RCB competitive, in an otherwise horrid individual season. Both Romario Shepherd and Jitesh Sharma scored maiden IPL fifties in sensational fashion in 2025 while Krunal Pandya scored a first since 2016, to lead their team to famous wins against CSK, LSG, and DC respectively. The crowning moment for the management’s faith in its set of players, and their ability to deliver on it, came in Qualifier 1 when Suyash Sharma put a middling season behind him as far as raw numbers are concerned to produce match-winning figures of 3/17 against Punjab Kings. 

Formidable five-man bowling unit 

Such was the level of consistency on display by the RCB bowlers throughout the campaign that the captain barely ever needed to veer from his original plans. Even in worst-case scenarios where a primary bowler was having an off-day, the likes of Romario Shepherd and Liam Livingstone chipped in with a couple of overs while the remaining quartet fulfilled their roles to keep matters on track. The fact that both those men delivered a gamechanging performance each with the ball in their limited opportunities further underscores the kind of confidence RCB’s bowling attack was brimming with as they lurked together to hunt in units.

One does not need to venture beyond the final for an example where arguably their best bowler Josh Hazlewood got pummelled for 17 runs in a crucial juncture of the game. Yet, by the time he came on to bowl his and the game’s last over, the game had already been practically rendered complete courtesy of the rest of the bowling attack. 

RCB has had no shortage of great spinners over the years, be it Anil Kumble, Daniel Vettori, Yuzvendra Chahal, or Wanindu Hasaranga. The tragedy is, none of them have arrived in conjunction or delivered great seasons simultaneously. Even when the team has had significant spin resources at their disposal, never have both men been Indian, meaning the margin of error was extremely low before the management decided to explore other solutions. And for a spinner in a batter-dominated format, that spelled bed news. The closest the team got to greatness on this front was in 2022 when Glenn Maxwell combined with Hasaranga through the middle-over stretch, but neither was the former’s six-wicket tally near prolific enough nor did the duo sustain for more than a season.

It was a surprise then that RCB made Suyash Sharma a winning bid of INR 2.60 crore in the 2025 auction when they already had Krunal Pandya in their ranks. Neither of them could claim to be a marquee spinner, and expectations of both featuring together were low. However, the team management went against the historic precedent and ended up with Krunal delivering his best season in terms of wickets by far with 17 scalps, while Suyash produced game changing overs seemingly at will. Even though their combined numbers of 25 wickets at over eight don’t look pretty on paper, it doesn’t highlight Krunal taking 2/17 in the final to near singlehandedly help RCB defend 190, or Suyash conceding just six runs in the 14th over when CSK missed out on chasing 213 by two runs. Their simultaneous presence meant Rajat Patidar always had a slower bowler to turn to even if one of them was having a bad day, like the opener where Krunal won man of the match for his 3/29 against Kolkata Knight Riders to sweep Suyash’s 1/47 under the rug.

In the era of sophisticated data science and analytics, a lot of games are won before the first ball is even bowled. A subtle change in player roles can turn seasons around – look at the success Gujarat Titans found by keeping Jos Buttler at three instead of up-top, or using Prasidh Krishna as a middle-overs enforcer instead of a new-ball operator. However, RCB has always featured a star-studded squad with global reputations, meaning the team often had to build itself around the roles of their players rather than the other way around.

All that changed in 2025. The management did not hesitate in taking new ball responsibilities away from Hazlewood, despite him being a generational great in the aspect, and handing them to Yash Dayal. What followed was the Aussie delivering tempo changing overs whenever the team felt under the pump through the middle-overs, while Yash could return renewed at the death and clutch games for the franchise. How they managed to convince Cricket Australia to allow Hazlewood to feature in the playoffs one week before the World Test Championship Final is a different mystery altogether.

Perhaps the most critical of those tactical moves was the role-clarity afforded to Virat Kohli, who simply had to worry about playing anchor and leave others around him to pick up the slack. More impressive was the fact that it was a mid-season call, given the team had collapsed thrice at home already with both Kohli and Phil Salt trying to go hammer and tongs up top. It all culminated beautifully in the final, where Kohli refused to force proceedings during his knock of 43 even though he was striking at under 125, allowing Patidar, Mayank, and Livingstone to contribute cameos with freedom and take the team to a winning total of 189/6. The fact that Salt had another generational season certainly helped, but that itself is a validation of the RCB process in 2025 – fit player roles to the team’s needs without restricting their strengths, and see them flourish.