The Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru timeline paints a picture of a contest that has always swung between dominance, shock, and sudden shifts in momentum, and this pattern continues to fascinate fans who track every meeting between these two sides because they know that each chapter tends to pull out something unexpected even when the teams appear settled.
Right from the first season, this fixture carried a sense of contrast since Rajasthan relied on understated structure and selections while Bengaluru leaned heavily on star presence and heavy-hitting displays, and this clash of ideas kept building new threads as the seasons rolled forward.
Although Bengaluru holds a slight edge with seventeen victories against fourteen, this difference barely captures the dramatic leaps across different stages of the league because the matches often break into unusual turns, heavy collapses, stunning recoveries, or one-off bursts from players who decide the night on their own.
Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Timeline
Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru Timeline Summary
| Era / Season Phase | Key Moments & Turning Points | Dominant Side / Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 (IPL Debut) | Shane Warne led Rajasthan to two wins; included a 65-run win in Jaipur, RR’s biggest margin vs RCB | Rajasthan Royals |
| 2009 (South Africa) | Anil Kumble’s historic spell dismissed RR for 58, their lowest IPL total | Royal Challengers Bengaluru |
| 2010 | Praveen Kumar claimed RCB’s first hat-trick vs RR, leading to a 10-wicket win | Royal Challengers Bengaluru |
| 2011–2012 | Alternating wins; RR won in Bengaluru by 59 runs, RCB won the return fixture | Balanced |
| 2013–2014 | Close finishes and late surges; Smith–Faulkner 85 (32 balls)* stole the 2014 match | Rajasthan Royals |
| 2015 Eliminator | AB de Villiers & Mandeep Singh powered a 71-run playoff win | Royal Challengers Bengaluru |
| 2018 | Sanju Samson’s 92 (45)* set RR’s highest total vs RCB (217/4) | Rajasthan Royals |
| 2020–2021 | RCB won all four league matches; 10-wicket win in 2021 with Padikkal’s century | Royal Challengers Bengaluru |
| 2022 (3 Matches) | Jos Buttler’s 106* in playoffs took RR to their first final since 2008 | Rajasthan Royals |
| 2023 | One-sided “double” completed by one team (momentum shift) | Season-dependent |
| 2024 | Kohli 113* vs Buttler century chase; RR won despite pressure | Rajasthan Royals |
| 2025 | RCB claimed two clear league wins, regaining control | Royal Challengers Bengaluru |
Early Years: 2008 to 2010
As soon as the league began in 2008, the rivalry stood out through Rajasthan’s strong opening statement since Shane Warne guided a squad full of unpolished players to two convincing wins over Bengaluru, and this included a thumping sixty-five–run triumph in Jaipur, which still remains Rajasthan’s greatest margin by runs against their rivals.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru struggled even though they fielded several recognised names, and their campaign fell apart so sharply that they finished second from the bottom, which made their first phase of meetings with Rajasthan feel lopsided. Yet, as the Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru timeline continued into 2009, the tone flipped dramatically because the competition shifted to South Africa, and Bengaluru responded with an intensity that stunned everyone watching.
Anil Kumble produced a spell that continues to echo through the story of this fixture as he ripped through Rajasthan and dismissed them for fifty-eight, their lowest total in the league’s history, and this demolition restored confidence in a Bengaluru outfit looking for stability.
The turnaround kept rolling in 2010, highlighted by Praveen Kumar grabbing the first hat-trick for Bengaluru against Rajasthan, and that performance created the base for a ruthless ten-wicket victory, which showed how quickly control could reverse in this matchup.
Mid-Era Fluctuations: 2011 to 2015
From 2011 onward, the rivalry settled into a pattern marked by alternating bursts of form, and the meetings during these seasons delivered a sequence of balanced contests rather than runaway dominance.
In 2012, Rajasthan secured a comfortable win in Bengaluru with a fifty-nine-run margin that reflected the clean execution of their plan, yet Bengaluru struck back by taking the return fixture with steady control, proving how neither side allowed the other to build momentum for too long.
The seasons of 2013 and 2014 continued this ebb and flow through close matches that hinged on late partnerships or clever finishing, and the highlight arrived in 2014 when Steve Smith and James Faulkner joined forces for a stunning unbeaten stand worth eighty-five runs off just thirty-two deliveries, a charge that ripped the match away from Bengaluru and illustrated how Rajasthan often created breakthroughs through calculated risk rather than sheer force.
As the Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru timeline moved into 2015, the stakes rose higher since both teams met in an Eliminator, and Bengaluru seized control through a decisive partnership between AB de Villiers and Mandeep Singh, which secured a seventy-one–run win and pushed them into the next stage of the playoffs.
Modern Era Shifts: 2018 to the Present
The rivalry gained fresh dimensions after 2018 because matches began leaning heavily towards high-scoring affairs, individual masterclasses, and playoff pressure, all of which helped stretch the narrative into new territory.
Sanju Samson’s unbeaten ninety-two off forty-five balls in Bengaluru during 2018 not only set Rajasthan’s highest total against Bengaluru at 217 for four but also signalled how players could alter the course of this fixture through single innings that overwhelm every plan set by the opposition.
Yet, the following years saw Bengaluru assert stronger control since they swept all four league matches across 2020 and 2021, and their ten-wicket hammering in 2021, fuelled by Devdutt Padikkal’s century, showcased how ruthlessly they could lock down a chase when their top order clicked without hesitation.
In 2022, the Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru timeline entered another dramatic turn because the sides met thrice that year, including a decisive playoff match, and Jos Buttler produced one of the most celebrated knocks of the league by striking an unbeaten 106 that carried Rajasthan into their first final since 2008.
The tendency for swings continued in 2023 and 2024 since each side completed a “double” over the other in alternate years, creating a sense that momentum could shift faster in this rivalry than in most others.
A memorable example appeared in 2024 when Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 113 looked strong enough to anchor Bengaluru, yet Buttler responded with a century of his own and guided Rajasthan to a chase that underlined their refusal to let pressure dictate the flow.
Recently, the 2025 season added another chapter since Bengaluru secured two clear wins in the league stage, and these results reminded everyone that the rivalry rarely stays balanced for long, even when both sides appear evenly matched on paper.
Head-to-Head Snapshot
The story of this rivalry becomes easier to read when examining the numbers that trace the long stretch of encounters between the two teams, yet each statistic carries the weight of specific moments rather than simple totals.
Bengaluru holds seventeen wins while Rajasthan claims fourteen, and three matches ended without a result; this narrow gap confirms that neither side has ever allowed dominance to settle permanently.
Bengaluru’s highest score of 205 for five in 2025 and Rajasthan’s 217 for four in 2018 display how their batting units frequently push matches into heavy-scoring zones, while both teams have suffered dramatic collapses, exemplified by Bengaluru’s seventy all out in 2009 and Rajasthan’s fifty-eight in the same year.
Virat Kohli stands miles ahead as the top run-getter with 826, while Sanju Samson leads Rajasthan with 445, and these totals reflect the consistency of their influence on the contest.
Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal’s eighteen wickets for Bengaluru and Shreyas Gopal’s fourteen for Rajasthan show how leg-spinners often find a strong footing in this fixture and shift control at key moments.
Final Take:
As the long thread of the Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru timeline shows, this rivalry thrives on sudden momentum changes, contrasting team structures, and individual brilliance that flips established patterns with little warning, and this unpredictability keeps the match-ups compelling even for neutral viewers.
Because each season brings new compositions and shifting conditions, the next chapter always carries the possibility of either a sweeping win or a tense finish that stays alive until the final delivery.
