RCB storm into IPL 2025 Final after crushing PBKS in Qualifier 1

Punjab Kings locked horns against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday at Mullanpur Stadium for IPL 2025 Qualifier 1. Winning the toss, Rajat Patidar led the team to opt to bowl first and invited the Punjab Kings to bat first. And it seems like it was Captain’s Day after all. Despite the ground stats batting first, Rajat chose to bowl first and opted to chase, ignoring the ground stats and listening to his gut. First, the decision to toss turned out to be gold, then later the bowling choice, along with the fielding setup, proved to be a goldmine for the RCB.

Batting first, Punjab Kings couldn’t do much today and fell short at just 101, and all went back to the pavilion. RCB bowled really well, no doubt. But Punjab hurt themselves too with poor cricket — soft dismissals, reckless shots, and the result says it all. It all started with the soft dismissal of Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran, and Shreyas played identical hoicks to offer catches to the keeper. Josh Inglis was bounced out, Nehal was then cleaned up, it was followed by another atrocious dismissal of Marcus Stoinis, Musheer, playing his first IPL match, came and went as an impact sub, the tail fought for a while to get PBKS past the 100-run mark, but that’s all they managed. Coming on the Chase, RCB had to chase 102 to make it to the final, and they chased down the score in just 10 overs.

RCB makes it to the Finals

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙨 ❤

🎥 Captain Rajat Patidar fittingly finishes off in style as #RCB are just one step away from the 🏆

Updates ▶ https://t.co/FhocIrg42l#PBKSvRCB | #Qualifier1 | #TheLastMile | @RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/hXhslIqcDZ

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 29, 2025

Coming on chase, Kohli, along with Phil Salt, opened the batting for RCB, meanwhile, Punjab chose Arshdeep for the bowling. The players started with intent and scored this run until the Punjab batter dismissed Kohli for 12 runs, giving his team a major breakthrough of the evening.  Kohli departed early, but it was Phil who built an innings for the night and led the team to the finale of the season with support from Mayank Aggarwal, who earlier built an unnoticed innings with Jitesh Sharma and led the team to Qualifier 1. However, he couldn’t contribute much and was dismissed with just 19 runs. 

RCB won the match in the 10th over with Phil Salt unbeaten 56 and Rajat Patidar 15* leading to the win the match by a dominant win of 8 wickets. The final nail to the winning coffin was added by Rajat Patidar, who hit the winning six and made it to the Finale. Winning the match with strength and dominance, RCB has made it to the final and now will wait for the winner of Qualifier 2 to join them. The final of the IPL 2025 is set to be played on the grounds of the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Whereas Qualifier 2 will see the winner of the eliminator match between GT and MI, and Qualifier 1 (Today’s loser), the Punjab Kings. The match is scheduled for June 1 and will be played on the same grounds as the final.

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‘Virat Kohli Insulting Indian player saying “sending Water bottle player to play” worst behaviour what a cheap cricketer shameless creature.’#RCBvsPBKS #ViratKohli | Trophy | Finals | RCB RCB | Congratulations RCB| INTO THE FINALS pic.twitter.com/eWIskGoBew

— IndiaPulse: News & Trends (@IndiaPulseNow) May 30, 2025

VIDEO | Mumbai: Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) plays with Mumbai Wheelchair Cricket Team during practice session at Islam Gymkhana, Marin Lines.

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