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The Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline spans 17 seasons, 35 matches, and some of the most unexpected results in IPL history. Two “Royal” franchises with wildly different stories: one won the title in Year 1, the other waited 18 years. Between those two bookmarks sits a rivalry full of collapses, centuries, and cricket that routinely makes no sense until it’s over.
RCB lead 17-15 across their head-to-head meetings, with 3 matches ending in no result. Tight. Unpredictable. Often decided in the last 3 overs.
Head-to-head record overview
| Statistic | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | Rajasthan Royals |
|---|---|---|
| Total Matches Played | 33 | 33 |
| Matches Won | 16 | 14 |
| No Result | 3 | 3 |
| Highest Team Score | 200/7 | 217/4 |
| Lowest Team Score | 70 | 58 |
| Biggest Win (By Runs) | 112 Runs | 59 Runs |
| Biggest Win (By Wickets) | 10 Wickets | 7 Wickets |
| Most Runs Scorer | Virat Kohli – 920+ Runs | Jos Buttler – 420+ Runs |
| Most Wickets Taker | Yuzvendra Chahal – 24 Wickets | Shreyas Gopal – 10 Wickets |
- Total matches played: 35
- RCB wins: 17
- RR wins: 15
- No result: 3
- RCB highest total vs RR: 205
- RCB lowest total vs RR: 70
- RR highest total vs RCB: 217/4 (2018, Bengaluru)
- RR lowest total vs RCB: 58
- Highest individual score (RR batter): Jos Buttler — 106* (2022 Qualifier 2, Ahmedabad)
- Highest individual score (RCB batter): Virat Kohli — 113* (2024, Jaipur)
- Best bowling figures: Anil Kumble — 5/5 (2009, Cape Town)
Virat Kohli leads all run-scorers in this fixture with over 800 runs. AB de Villiers sits second (488). Sanju Samson is RR’s top scorer in the head-to-head (445). Yuzvendra Chahal, who has played for both sides, leads the wicket-takers with 24 scalps.
Early IPL rivalry (2008–2012)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2008
April 26, 2008. M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The very first meeting between these sides.
RCB, led by Rahul Dravid, posted 135/8. Ross Taylor’s 44 off 20 balls was the only innings of note. In reply, Shane Watson walked out and settled things quickly. He scored an unbeaten 61 off 41 balls. RR won by 7 wickets with 17 balls to spare.
Dominant. RR also beat RCB by 65 runs at Jaipur that season, with Graeme Smith smashing 75 off 49 and Sohail Tanvir and Shane Warne taking 3 wickets each. RR won the 2008 IPL title. RCB were nowhere near them yet.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2009
The South Africa edition produced the single greatest bowling performance in this fixture’s history.
April 18, 2009. Cape Town. Anil Kumble bowled 3.1 overs. He conceded 5 runs. He took 5 wickets. RR, defending champions, were bowled out and RCB won by 75 runs. Kumble’s 5/5 remains the best figures in any RCB vs RR clash. Rahul Dravid scored 66 off 48 to anchor the chase.
Kumble was 38. Playing his last chapter. And he picked the biggest stage in the biggest fixture to produce an absurd spell of spin bowling.
Jacques Kallis contributed with bat and ball across the South Africa leg. RCB, led by Kumble, made the final that year — their first — losing to Deccan Chargers.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline between 2010–2012
Kohli’s ascent began here. By 2011 and 2012, he was clearly RCB’s best batter. Chris Gayle joined in 2011. Shane Warne led RR with his brain as much as his bowling. The matches in this phase had genuine playoff implications and the fixtures started producing closer results than the 2008–09 editions.
Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers era (2013–2016)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline during RCB’s batting dominance
This 4-year window produced the most entertaining cricket in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline. When Gayle, Kohli and AB de Villiers all connected in the same game, RR had very little answer.
Gayle regularly dismantled opposition bowling in this phase. AB de Villiers scored 488 runs in this fixture — rarely spectacular in one single game, but relentlessly good across every match. He finished most innings. He made run chases feel routine.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2015
RR came with a balanced attack in 2015 — pace, spin, a Rajasthan attack that knew how to build pressure across 20 overs. The encounters were close. RCB won tight games on the back of death-over hitting, while RR relied more on their bowling to stay competitive against a lineup that could post 200 on any surface.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2016
Virat Kohli scored 973 runs in IPL 2016, the most in a single IPL season by anyone, ever. His encounters with RR that season were part of a historic personal run that carried RCB all the way to the final (which they lost to SRH). The Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in 2016 featured a Kohli who was operating at a level beyond the normal range of this fixture.
Competitive battles and thrillers (2017–2020)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2018
This match belonged to Sanju Samson.
RR came to Bengaluru and posted 217/4. Samson scored an unbeaten 92 off 45 balls — 10 sixes, 2 fours. At one point it looked like RCB’s home ground was being used as a batting net against them. RR won by 19 runs. That total of 217 remains RR’s highest against RCB in this fixture.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline has no shortage of moments where Samson has imposed himself. But this 45-ball 92 in Bengaluru was the most destructive he ever got against them.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2019
Pressure games in 2019 were often decided by bowling. RCB’s pace attack, which cycled through various combinations in this period, struggled for consistency. RR’s spinners — Shreyas Gopal in particular — troubled RCB’s middle order in ways that pace alone couldn’t.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2020
Played in the UAE. Devdutt Padikkal announced himself. A 20-year-old opening for RCB against a varied RR attack, scoring runs with a calm completely disproportionate to his age. He ended the 2020 season as one of RCB’s best performers.
Sanju Samson also had a strong 2020 campaign overall. Across this fixture’s UAE editions, both teams produced high-scoring games on flat Dubai and Abu Dhabi tracks. Padikkal’s emergence changed RCB’s opening dynamic and gave them a platform Gayle used to provide.
Modern IPL era (2021–2024)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2021
Glenn Maxwell joined RCB in 2021 for ₹14.25 crore at the auction — and immediately justified it. His 2021 season, particularly his recovery from COVID and the second leg of the tournament in the UAE, showed a different kind of impact player.
Against RR, Maxwell’s middle-order contributions gave RCB a finisher they’d lacked since Karthik’s first stint. Captaincy battles — Kohli for RCB, Samson in his first full season as RR captain — added another layer. Samson was still figuring out what his RR team wanted to be. RCB knew exactly what they were.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2022
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline’s most consequential chapter until 2025 came in the 2022 Qualifier 2.
Jos Buttler walked out and made it look easy. His 106* off 60 balls, in a knockout match, chasing a modest total, took RR to the final. RCB were eliminated. Buttler was playing his 100th IPL match that day. He hit the winning six to bring up his century and seal the win simultaneously.
A clean, efficient, devastating performance. RCB had no real answer.
RR went on to reach the 2022 final (which they lost to Gujarat Titans). For the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline, Buttler’s 106* remains the single most impactful knock in a knockout context.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2023
Yashasvi Jaiswal emerged as RR’s answer to every opposition bowler. His 2023 form against RCB was aggressive from the first ball. RCB’s middle-order, without AB de Villiers for the first time in years, was building new partnerships and finding new combinations.
RR were bowled out for 59 in one of their 2023 encounters — the lowest total in this fixture’s history.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2024
Two enormous individual performances defined the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in 2024.
April 6, 2024. Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur. Kohli scored 113 not out off 72 balls — his eighth IPL century and his slowest, reaching three figures in 67 balls. He contributed 61.7% of RCB’s total of 183/3 on his own. Nobody else scored double digits except du Plessis.
Buttler, in his 100th IPL match, responded with 100* off 58 balls. Samson scored 69 off 42 beside him. Their 148-run stand set up the chase. RR won by 6 wickets.
Two hundreds. One match. One team’s superstar outscored by the other’s in a direct exchange. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline rarely delivers something this clean.
The 2024 Eliminator saw RR knock RCB out at Ahmedabad. RCB scored 172/8. RR chased it down, Jaiswal and Samson pacing the run hunt. Trent Boult’s bowling and the absence of Buttler (back on England duty) made it more competitive than expected, but RR did the job.
Historic IPL 2025 encounters
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2025 — Jaipur
April 13, 2025. Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Phil Salt opened for RCB and went after the bowling immediately. He scored 65 off 33 balls — 5 fours, 6 sixes. Kohli added 62* off 45 beside him. Their opening stand put RCB in cruise control.
Jaiswal tried. He made 75 off 47 at the top for RR. But RR’s decision to bat too conservatively in the middle overs cost them runs they couldn’t recover. They posted 173. RCB chased it in 17.3 overs with 9 wickets in hand. Josh Hazlewood’s bowling and Yash Dayal’s back-of-hand slower ball had earlier slowed RR’s innings at the right moments.
A comfortable win. One of RCB’s most efficient performances of the season in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline in IPL 2025 — Bengaluru
April 24, 2025. M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
RCB posted 205/5. Salt and Kohli opened again — the same aggressive template from Jaipur, this time on a home track. Devdutt Padikkal added runs in the middle. Jitesh Sharma hit 20 off the final over.
RR chased hard. Jaiswal was dangerous again. But Josh Hazlewood bowled a spell that shifted momentum in the death overs. RCB held on. RR finished 163/7 — a 42-run defeat.
RCB completed the double over RR in 2025, winning both fixtures as they went on to claim their maiden IPL title.
Most memorable matches
Best run chase: RCB chasing 174 in 17.3 overs at Jaipur in 2025. Salt and Kohli made it look straightforward.
Highest-scoring thriller: RR’s 217/4 in Bengaluru in 2018. Samson’s 92 off 45. RR won by 19 runs.
Lowest collapse: RR bowled out for 58. RCB bowled out for 70 in 2009 in a different match. Both teams have had genuinely terrible days in this fixture.
Playoff-impact match: 2022 Qualifier 2. Buttler 106*. RCB eliminated.
Record individual performance: Kohli’s 113* in Jaipur in 2024, accounting for nearly 62% of RCB’s innings single-handed.
Top player performances
| Rank | Player | Team(s) | Matches/Innings | Runs | Highest Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virat Kohli | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 31 | 979 | 113* |
| 2 | AB de Villiers | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 22 | 652 | 66* |
| 3 | Jos Buttler | Rajasthan Royals | 11 | 503 | 106* |
| 4 | Chris Gayle | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 13 | 471 | 99 |
| 5 | Ajinkya Rahane | Rajasthan Royals | 17 | 347 | 60 |
| 6 | Sanju Samson | Rajasthan Royals | 17 | 343 | 92* |
| 7 | Rahul Dravid | RCB / RR | 15 | 323 | 75* |
| 8 | Shane Watson | Rajasthan Royals / RCB | 16 | 314 | 61 |
| 9 | Devdutt Padikkal | RCB / RR | 10 | 295 | 101* |
| 10 | Faf du Plessis | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 7 | 270+ | 62 |
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline featuring Virat Kohli
800+ runs. 4 Player of the Match awards. A strike rate of 134 across the fixture’s history. His 113* in 2024 is the highest individual score in RCB vs RR matches. He has the most runs in this fixture by a significant distance.
Kohli’s average at Jaipur was just 21.90 before the 2024 season. He picked that exact venue to score 113. That’s either coincidence or a competitive instinct that borders on the unreasonable.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline featuring Jos Buttler
His 106* in the 2022 Qualifier 2 is the most impactful single innings in this fixture’s history. A century in an eliminator, sealing RR’s place in the final. RCB had no answer. Buttler’s 100th IPL cap as backdrop made it one of those matches that writes its own narrative.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline featuring AB de Villiers and Sanju Samson
AB scored 488 runs across this fixture without a single century. Consistent finishing. He made 30s and 40s that won matches RCB shouldn’t have won.
Samson’s 92* off 45 in Bengaluru in 2018 is his signature innings in this rivalry. His 445 runs overall make him RR’s highest scorer against RCB.
Bowling records and match-winning spells
| Rank | Player | Team(s) | Matches | Wickets | Best Bowling Figures |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yuzvendra Chahal | RCB / RR | 25 | 24 | 3/16 |
| 2 | Harshal Patel | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 11 | 15 | 3/34 |
| 3 | Shreyas Gopal | Rajasthan Royals | 8 | 10 | 3/12 |
| 4 | Shane Watson | Rajasthan Royals / RCB | 16 | 10 | 3/10 |
| 5 | Vinay Kumar | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 11 | 9 | 3/25 |
| 6 | Pravin Tambe | Rajasthan Royals | 7 | 9 | 4/20 |
| 7 | Mohammed Siraj | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 9 | 8 | 3/27 |
| 8 | Sohail Tanvir | Rajasthan Royals | 5 | 8 | 6/14 |
| 9 | Sreenath Aravind | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 8 | 8 | 3/21 |
| 10 | Ravichandran Ashwin | Rajasthan Royals | 8 | 7 | 3/22 |
Best figures: 5/5 — Anil Kumble (RCB), Cape Town, 2009. Still the fourth-best bowling figures in IPL history. An absurd spell from a 38-year-old leg-spinner in his second-last IPL season.
Best RR figures: Shreyas Gopal — 4/16. Gopal was a consistent thorn in RCB’s side across multiple seasons.
Yuzvendra Chahal leads the wicket-takers list in this fixture with 24 wickets — having played for both sides. Harshal Patel sits second with 17.
Pace vs spin in this fixture: RR’s spinners (Chahal, Gopal, Ashwin in later years) have generally been more effective than their pace attack against RCB. RCB’s death-over pace bowling (Hazlewood, Dayal in 2025) has been the match-winner recently.
Statistical insights and fun facts
- Highest partnership: 148 — Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson (RR, 2024, Jaipur)
- Most sixes: Chris Gayle (RCB) across the fixture’s history
- Home vs away: At Jaipur, RCB and RR share 5 wins each in 10 meetings. At Bengaluru, RR hold a slight edge. On neutral grounds, RCB win 8 of 13.
- 19 of 35 matches have been won batting second — a clear toss-and-field bias in this fixture
- Kohli has won 4 Player of the Match awards against RR. No other player in this fixture has won more than 2.
Why this rivalry is so popular
Two fan bases that express emotion at full volume. Two teams that have historically underperformed despite star-studded squads. And a head-to-head record so close — 17 wins to 15 — that every game feels like it could tip the balance.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline keeps producing individual performances that outlast the matches themselves. Kumble’s 5/5. Buttler’s Qualifier 2 hundred. Kohli’s 113 in Jaipur. Samson’s 92 off 45. These innings don’t age.
Jaipur and Bengaluru are wildly different venues. Sawai Mansingh is a spinner’s track that turns slow. Chinnaswamy is a flat, high-altitude surface where 220 is chaseable. The fixture forces both sides to adapt completely depending on venue.
Future rivalry expectations
Watch Yashasvi Jaiswal. He’s 23. His 75 in Jaipur in 2025 was one of the better RR innings against RCB in years, even in a losing cause. He’s going to be the centerpiece of this fixture for the next decade if RR build around him correctly.
For RCB, the post-Kohli question is arriving. Rajat Patidar’s captaincy in 2025 was impressive. Phil Salt gave them a new dimension at the top. But who carries RCB when Kohli eventually steps back — that’s the most interesting question for the future of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline.
Playoff clashes between these teams have consistently produced the highest-stakes cricket in the fixture. Given both teams’ trajectory, more knockout meetings seem likely.
Conclusion
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline is 17 seasons of cricket where the scoreline at halfway tells you almost nothing.
RR won in 2008, then waited 14 years for another final. RCB waited 18 years for their first title. Between those two journeys, they played 35 matches that covered the full range: 5/5 from a legend in Cape Town, a 92 off 45 from Samson in Bengaluru, a century battle in Jaipur, and a 9-wicket win for RCB in 2025 that was one half of their double over RR that season.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru Vs Rajasthan Royals Timeline has no dominant side, no clear formula, and no predictable outcome. 17 wins to 15, across 35 matches, in 17 years. That’s the whole story. And it’s a good one.
