Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium will see the Royal Challengers Bangalore battle the Punjab Kings to quench their thirst to win their first IPL trophy. PBKS are in the final for the first time in 11 years, and are now to face off against the ever Challengers, who are too familiar with losing a final.
RCB lost the final in 2016 against SRH, and PBKS, back when they lost the final in 2014, were called the Kings XI Punjab. Both of them lost at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and will now put it all on the pitch to bring home the prestigious trophy and break the curse.
The Last Encounter
The Challengers beat the Kings last Thursday in the first Qualifier, after a dominating bowling attack that took the PBKS batting order apart. The Kings looked like they had no chance against the relentless attack of Josh Hazlewood and Suyash Sharma.
However, Punjab Kings appear to be prepared after playing in Ahmedabad after their win against the Mumbai Indians. They will come into the game with confidence and will try to play off the momentum.
Players to Watch
Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer’s performance could be the deciding factor in the final. Shreyas Iyer has been fantastic for the Punjab Kings this season, especially against spinners, but has had average performances against pacers like Hazlewood. Virat, who is not unfamiliar with the big stage, has put on some massive scores in finals.
Probable Playing XI
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone/Tim David, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Yash Dayal, 11 Josh Hazlewood, 12 Suyash Sharma.
Punjab Kings: 1 Priyansh Arya, 2 Prabhsimran Singh, 3 Josh Inglis (wk), 4 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 5 Nehal Wadhera, 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Azmatullah Omarzai, 9 Vijaykumar Vyshak, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yuzvendra Chahal/Harpreet Brar.
This IPL final will see cacophonic joy and major despair from the fans of either of these teams as the Royal Challengers Bangalore go up against the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 final.
