India, May 18 -- Royal Challengers Bengaluru held their nerve and survived a late onslaught to edge out Punjab Kings by 23 runs on Sunday to become the first team to secure an IPL playoffs berth. RCB's collective batting show, led by Venkatesh Iyer's unbeaten 40-ball 73, was backed by the bowling smarts of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam and Josh Hazlewood. Along with Iyer, Virat Kohli (58 off 37 balls), Devdutt Padikkal (45 off 25 balls) and Tim David (28 off 12) were the other significant contributors for RCB after they were asked to bat first. Setting a target of 223, PBKS were stopped at 199 for eight after Shashank Singh's valiant 56 off 27 balls. This has been one of the most astonishing collapses of any team in any tournament. PBKS' sixth defeat slid the 2025 finalists towards the edge. P16...