This edition’s Qualifier 1 in Mullanpur will involve two teams keen to end their wait for an IPL trophy.
While Punjab Kings last made the playoffs in 2014, Royal Challengers Bengaluru reached the knockouts in 2016. Both teams lost in the final on the previous occasions.
A victory on Thursday will send one of them to the final on June 3, while the other gets a second chance by playing Qualifier 2.
Punjab’s success in IPL 2025 has revolved around their uncapped Indian players and the superb planning and execution of their captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Ricky Ponting.
There seems to be a spring in the steps of both the teams. Punjab secured their spot in the top-two by defeating a daunting Mumbai Indians in their last league game. RCB showed undiminished hunger to secure the cushion of the first qualifier in Lucknow on Tuesday where they rode Jitesh Sharma’s classic innings to pull off a thriller.
Punjab missed Yuzvendra Chahal in their last two games with a wrist injury but the spinner is expected to be fit for Thursday’s game. RCB too will be bolstered by the return of Josh Hazlewood, their most successful bowler this season.
However, both teams will be without some key players. Punjab all-rounder Marco Jansen has returned to South Africa to prepare for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, while RCB’s Tim David is unlikely to be available due to the hamstring injury he picked up against the Sunrisers.
Given the batting strength of the two teams, it wouldn’t be illogical to bet on a high-scoring match. Mullanpur has hosted four IPL games this season. The first two featured three 200-plus totals while the last two saw 111 all out, 95 all out, and 157/6 in 20 overs.
The contest between Arshdeep Singh and the RCB openers could be interesting too. The left-arm pacer has conceded just 25 off 34 balls to Phil Salt while dismissing him four times. Kohli, however, has been explosive, hitting him for 93 off 51 deliveries.
How the openers of both teams fare could decide Thursday’s contest. If RCB can dismiss Punjab’s hugely successful pair of Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh early, it could give them an advantage in clipping their wings.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has dismissed Prabhsimran four times in 46 balls in all T20s, and could be trusted to do it again. He has favourable
numbers against Shreyas too — three dismissals. Hazlewood could also be an option against the Punjab skipper having dismissed him thrice in 19 deliveries.
But Shreyas is in the midst of a dream season — strike-rate of 148.38, 164.57 and 216.12 in the Powerplay, middle overs (7-15) and death, respectively. He, however, has two single-digit scores against RCB this season.
The Powerplay battle between the two sides does give Punjab an advantage. They have the second-best scoring rate in the first six overs at 10.02. RCB have the lowest economy rate (8.79), the highest dot ball percentage (43.5), and have conceded the second-fewest sixes (28) in
the Powerplay.
Shreyas said something significant at the team meeting before their clash against Mumbai Indians.
“Qualification is half job done, finishing top-two is half job done,” Shashank Singh revealed Shreyas as saying.
Even Ponting has been insisting that they haven’t reached their goal. “I mean yeah, it’s a great achievement till now, but really, if you look back, we haven’t achieved anything yet,” the Australian told the host broadcasters.
“That’s the one thing I’ve been saying to the players since the moment we qualified. The vision for me was always to finish in the top two, and we’ve got there now. It’s a really happy group and we’ve enjoyed our time in each other’s company for the last 10 weeks, but we’ve got another week to go yet.”
RCB too will be following a similar mantra, nothing short of a victory will do. An IPL trophy is what Kohli has in his sights after having achieved most of his desired goals in cricket. This edition has given him renewed hope.
