Royal Challengers Bengaluru players celebrate a wicket during the match against Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2025. (AP)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru achieved a historic milestone in IPL 2025 by becoming the first team to win all seven away matches in a season, as stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma's unbeaten 85 led them to chase down 228 runs against Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
The six-wicket victory with eight balls remaining marked RCB's highest successful chase and the third-highest total in IPL history.The win secured RCB the second position on the points table with 19 points, matching Punjab but placed behind due to net run rate of 0.30. This is RCB's best league stage finish since 2016.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The chase saw significant contributions from Virat Kohli and Phil Salt in the powerplay, followed by Jitesh Sharma and Mayank Agarwal's unbeaten partnership.
Agarwal scored 41 not out to support Sharma's match-winning innings.
Earlier, Lucknow Super Giants posted a formidable 227/3, powered by captain Rishabh Pant's spectacular 118.The match witnessed a tough day for Lucknow's Will O'Rourke, who despite taking two wickets, conceded 74 runs in his four overs - the third-most expensive spell in IPL history.This victory marked only the second successful 200-plus chase at the Lucknow venue, following Sunrisers Hyderabad's successful pursuit of 206 against the home team on May 19.
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Previous records show that Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians had each won seven away games in the 2012 season but failed to maintain a perfect away record.The result has set up Qualifier 1 between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings on Thursday, while Gujarat will face Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator on Friday.