The game at Barsapara Cricket Stadium had everything the neutral fan could want — a top-of-the-table clash between the two in-form sides of IPL 2026, a rain delay to build the suspense, and then the most beautifully disguised googly of the season. Ravi Bishnoi delivered it. Virat Kohli had no answer.

The Dismissal Everyone Is Talking About

Kohli had been extraordinary in the powerplay. Off the first three overs, he pulled, drove and cut RR’s bowlers through every gap — seven fours in 16 balls, striking at 200, setting up what looked like a platform for a 180-plus total. Devdutt Padikkal had already gone to Jofra Archer in the third over, but Kohli was unmoved.

Then Riyan Parag called for Bishnoi in the fifth over.

The ball that ended Kohli’s innings was a textbook leg-spinner’s trap. Bishnoi set Kohli up with a standard leg-break, drawing the shot, getting the footwork going. Then came the googly — flighted slightly wider, pitching on middle and coming in sharply. Kohli read it as the leg-break and tried to go inside-out over extra cover. The ball went straight through bat and pad and crashed into the stumps.

The reaction said everything: Kohli stood for a moment, looked at the stumps, looked at the pitch, gave a wry smile of pure acknowledgement and walked off. It was not a poor delivery hitting a batsman on the back foot — it was a world-class spinner outthinking a world-class batter.

“The big fish is gone as Virat Kohli fails to read a beautifully disguised googly. Kohli looked to go inside-out but was nowhere near the pitch of the ball, seeing his stumps rattled.”

The Collapse That Followed

Kohli’s dismissal at 58/3 in 4.5 overs was the trigger. From there, RCB unravelled with alarming speed. Krunal Pandya and Jitesh Sharma both fell in quick succession, and RCB were 82/5 after nine overs — not in a strong enough position to threaten a challenging total despite the powerplay blitz.

Rajat Patidar fought hard for 63, but RCB were ultimately unable to recover the momentum that Bishnoi’s dismissal of Kohli had robbed them of. Bishnoi and Archer took two wickets each, with Brijesh Sharma — making his first appearance of RR’s season — also chipping in as Parag rotated his options cleverly.

Rajasthan Royals won by 27 runs — their third win from three in IPL 2026, stretching their lead at the top of the table.

Josh Hazlewood Returns, Bishnoi Makes History

The match also marked Josh Hazlewood’s belated IPL 2026 debut for RCB. Australia’s pace enforcer — held back for weeks under Cricket Australia’s workload management plan — finally got his clearance. He replaced Jacob Duffy, who had bowled brilliantly in RCB’s first two wins. Patidar at the toss welcomed the experience.

“Josh Hazlewood is in the team in place of Duffy. His presence will definitely put us in a good frame of mind.”

Meanwhile, Bishnoi’s two-wicket haul against RCB extended his IPL 2026 wicket tally to seven — the most of any spinner in the tournament so far. Against the Kohli dismissal specifically, he showed exactly why R Ashwin had been so effusive in his post-GT match praise last week — the Purple Cap is sitting with a bowler who has rediscovered not just his form, but his craft.

The Top-of-the-Table Picture

With this win, the early IPL 2026 standings now look sharply defined.

Team

W

L

Points

NRR

Rajasthan Royals

3

0

6

+2.1

Royal Challengers Bengaluru

2

1

4

+1.8

Both teams were unbeaten heading into the match. Now RR stand alone at the top, with three comprehensive wins from three different venues. RCB’s first defeat of the season came on a pitch Parag had correctly read — a dry surface with moisture from the evening rain that assisted both swing and spin.

Riyan Parag, reflecting on his side’s consistency, was in measured mood.

“We would like to extract the most from the pitch. We’ve been clinical and focused on playing strategic cricket as planned before the tournament.”