IPL 2026: RCB win last-ball thriller to knock Mumbai Indians out

Royal Challengers Bengaluru held their nerve in a last-ball thriller to knock Mumbai Indians out of IPL 2026 with a dramatic two-wicket win at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium on Sunday. Chasing 167 on a surface that challenged batters throughout, RCB were carried by Krunal Pandya’s fighting 73 and a sensational finishing burst from Bhuvneshwar Kumar to seal victory off the final delivery. Early collapse as MI strike in powerplay Mumbai Indians posted 166/7 after a strong recovery led by Tilak Varma’s fluent 57 and Naman Dhir’s 47, which helped them rebuild after a disastrous start.

However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s sensational spell of 4/23 had earlier ripped through the top order, removing Ryan Rickelton, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav in quick succession before returning later to dismiss Tilak Varma as well, ensuring MI were restricted to a fighting total despite their middle-order resistance. — IPL (@IPL) The chase began in chaos. Deepak Chahar struck early, removing Virat Kohli for a golden duck in the first over, while Devdutt Padikkal also fell cheaply as RCB slipped to 24/2.

Corbin Bosch then joined the attack, dismissing skipper Rajat Patidar to leave Bengaluru reeling at 47/3 at the end of the powerplay. At that stage, Mumbai were firmly on top. Jasprit Bumrah kept things tight, Bosch extracted awkward bounce, and the sluggish pitch made scoring difficult.

Jacob Bethell tried to steady things with a patient 27, but the real shift came through Krunal Pandya. Krunal Pandya leads RCB’s fightback Krunal first absorbed pressure, then gradually counterattacked. He used the angles cleverly, swept aggressively against Will Jacks and AM Ghazanfar, and targeted the straight boundary with increasing confidence.