In a blockbuster match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) faced a 42-run defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad. The match was held at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on 23 May (Saturday). RCB was given a target of 232 runs to win, but the entire team was bowled out for 189 runs in 19.5 overs.

After getting a good start with Virat Kohli, RCB still faced a loss in the end. After the match, the star opening batter of RCB, Phil Salt, said that losing in the league stage is better than losing in the playoffs. He made this statement after RCB lost their match against SRH in yesterday’s IPL clash at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Even though it was RCB’s fourth loss of the season, Salt didn’t seem too worried. He said that having a bad day in the league stage is easier to handle than in the playoffs.

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Phil Salt’s Statement After RCB’s Defeat

“That’s one way of looking at it. The other way is that we don’t mind having this kind of game now, rather than during the playoffs. Yes, you can take it as a disappointment, or you can take it for what it is — we’ve already qualified. We lost the game, and no one likes losing, especially in cricket. I hate the fact that we’ve lost, just like everyone else wearing an RCB shirt. But you’d rather have a result like this now than in an eliminator,” said Salt in the post-match press conference.

Phil Salt said, "I'm hating the fact that we lost, as will everybody else in an RCB jersey. But we would rather have this now, than in the Playoffs". pic.twitter.com/s1F6XJr6sY

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 24, 2025

RCB missed a big chance to finish in the top two spots of the IPL points table after SRH’s Ishan Kishan led his team to a 42-run win. With this defeat, RCB now stands in third place. GT is on top with 18 points, while PBKS is second with the same 17 points as RCB but a better net run rate of 0.134.

RCB’s chase became difficult after SRH set a big target of 232 runs, with Ishan Kishan scoring an unbeaten 94. Phil Salt (62), Virat Kohli (43), and Jitesh Sharma (24) helped RCB reach 189, but the team was bowled out in 19.5 overs. This was also RCB’s first loss in an away match this season.