It’s the two teams in red who will battle it out in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2025, as the table-topping Punjab Kings square off against the second-placed Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on May 29.
For the game, here are our preview and predictions.
Indian Premier League 2025 | Qualifier 1: Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 19:30 IST, May 29
It has been a dream campaign for Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting. Both captain and head coach have delivered on the early-season promise, and their position in the league table reflects the work that has been done in the Punjab Kings camp.
The decision to go with two uncapped Indian openers has paid handsome dividends, with both Priyash Arya (424) and Prabhsimran Singh (499) having crossed the 400-run barrier. Captain Iyer has also been in tremendous form throughout the campaign and is sitting on 514 runs.
While the middle order was becoming a cause for concern midway through the season, the decision to promote Josh Inglis at No. 3 and Iyer at No. 4 has turned out to be a masterstroke, with the Australian wicketkeeper-batter having shown what he’s capable of in their recent victory against the Mumbai Indians with a match-winning knock of 73 runs off 42 balls.
PBKS’ bowling attack has also been delivering. However, with Marco Jansen set to miss the playoffs, the team do not have a like-for-like replacement. This could lead to either Xavier Bartlett or Kyle Jamieson making the side, with Mitchell Owen coming in as one of the overseas players to strengthen their batting. In the spin department, Iyer and Ponting will be happy to have Yuzvendra Chahal back for the playoffs after the leg-spinner missed the last two games due to a wrist injury.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, on the other hand, are also coming into this fixture on the back of a confidence-boosting victory against the Lucknow Super Giants. Unlike previous seasons, where RCB would rely only on a handful of players, this season they really have played like a team, with different players stepping up in different games—be it with bat or ball.
Like every other season, Virat Kohli is once again leading the run-scoring chart with 602 runs in 13 innings. However, the next highest run-getter is Phil Salt with 331 runs. Captain Patidar (271 runs)—after a good start to the campaign—has gone off the boil, while Jitesh Sharma (237 runs) is their next best batter.
But that has been RCB’s story this season: at least one batter has stepped up and delivered when others have failed to get going. Kohli has finished off a few chases himself, Salt has played some blinders, and Devdutt Padikkal has come through. Most notably, Krunal Pandya’s heroics with the bat against the Delhi Capitals, Romario Shepherd’s knock against the Chennai Super Kings, and Jitesh Sharma’s recent blitz against the Lucknow Super Giants are some of the most memorable performances this year.
RCB’s bowlers have also been doing wonders. That said, in Josh Hazlewood’s absence they’ve looked toothless and without direction—for the first time this season. The good news is that the veteran Aussie quick will be back for Qualifier 1, which makes a huge difference considering RCB concede under nine runs per over in the Powerplay and under 10 per over at the death when he’s playing, while in his absence they’ve gone over 10 and 12 runs per over respectively in those phases of play.
Looking ahead to Qualifier 1, the Mullanpur wickets haven’t been the easiest to bat on, though teams have registered 200+ totals in two of the four matches played here. Three matches have been won by the team batting first, while the only time a chasing team won was when RCB pulled off a win over PBKS in Match 37.
The Kings don’t have the best record at Mullanpur, while RCB have been dangerous away from home. Although there are no outright winners here, based on this fact alone, we back the Royal Challengers to book their place in the final.
Fantasy XI: Jitesh Sharma, Phil Salt, Josh Inglis, Virat Kohli (vc), Nehal Wadhera, Shreyas Iyer, Josh Hazlewood (c), Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Venue: Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur
Winners Prediction: Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Leave a Reply