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The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) reached their fourth IPL final in history by defeating the Punjab Kings (PBKS) comprehensively by 8 wickets on Thursday at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. The Bengaluru-based franchise's bowling attack decimated PBKS' batting order that had been dominant throughout the ongoing IPL season and ended up making the match completely one-sided.
RCB gave an incredible bowling performance against PBKS
Suyash Sharma and Josh Hazlewood were the pick of the bowlers for RCB as both of them picked up three scalps each. Yash Dayal chipped in with two wickets while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Romario Shepherd took one each as the Shreyas Iyer-led PBKS could only manage to put 101 runs on the board before getting bundled out.
In reply, despite losing Virat Kohli cheaply for 12 runs, the RCB batters didn't panic and Phil Salt's fantastic knock of 56 runs from 27 deliveries saw them reach the 102-run target in just 10 overs. It was a brilliant all-round performance from RCB, who dominated in both the batting and bowling departments to secure a place in the IPL final for the first time in nine years.
In an exclusive interview with Sports Tak, legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar showered praise on Suyash in particular, who won the Player of the Match award for finishing his three-over spell with figures of 3/17, dismissing the likes of Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh and Musheer Khan. Commenting on Suyash's performance, Gavaskar lauded RCB for finding new match-winners in almost every game and also backed them to win the IPL 2025 final.
“Yes, I think that actually tells you the story of RCB this year is that they haven't been reliant on one or two players one player in batting or one player in bowling. Everywhere, somewhere or the other has put their hand up and taken the team home. And I think that is the key to what we have seen why RCB are in the final and possibly will be the champions on the 3rd of June,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
Gavaskar was also impressed with the team not getting carried away with their celebrations after reaching the final, stating that they are completely focused on brining the trophy home.
“Yes, they know that they still have one big game to play and so they're not getting carried away by this win. This is a massive win, as you said, the biggest win in terms of number of deliveries left. So any team could get carried away. But because this team has had the experience of being in the final and the disappointment of losing the final. They know that they have one big battle ahead, so they're not getting carried away, and that's the way to be,” Gavaskar added.
The IPL 2025 final will be played at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on June 3. The Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians will be locking horns in the eliminator on May 30 and the winner will face PBKS on June 1. The winner of that match will go on to meet RCB in the penultimate match of the tournament.
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