As far as narratives and sub-plots go, IPL 2025 could not have got a better match-up for the first qualifier with a final spot up for grabs. Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, two peas of a trophy-less pod, have often looked in from the outside longingly, at many-a title fights over the years.
QUALIFIER CLASH
IPL 2025: Trophy-starved PBKS, RCB in final-bound faceoff
RCB and PBKS split the two league-phase meetings, each winning at the other's home. © BCCI
It's not that the two franchises do not know what playing in an IPL final means. Kings XI Punjab - the erstwhile name of PBKS - finished runners-up in 2014, and RCB did it thrice in 2009, 2011 and 2016. The fans know and remember, and the management has lived the feeling of having the stakes multiplied infinitely. But the rigours and failures in the seasons since further amplify their achievement of 2025.
PBKS have consistently operated in a zone of mediocrity since George Bailey's side lost the title to KKR 11 seasons ago. RCB have been better, making it to the playoffs in five of the six seasons since 2020 but never as a top-two side. 2025 has been a breath of fresh, rarefied air for the two teams often associated with falling short. PBKS have hit a hard reset in personnel and mentality - the Ricky Ponting-Shreyas Iyer duo bringing swagger and identity to a side in desperate need of both. RCB, with a far more chiseled persona despite the absence of success not adding up, have pulled off an un-RCB like achievement of acing squad balance.
Heading into Q1, there's a spring to both their steps. PBKS secured their spot in the top two by trampling a fully-purring, familiarly-daunting Mumbai Indians in the last league game. RCB, meanwhile, showed a raging hunger to secure the cushion of the first qualifier in Lucknow just a day ago where they were pushed to the hilt in a chase. That said, momentum can get rendered inconsequential in knockout sports. Ask RCB of 2024. Their 2025 selves, armed with renewed vigour, cross paths with another title-hungry entity, all in a bid to get closer to vacating the glory-less void they currently co-inhabit.
When:Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Qualifier 1, May 29, 2025, 7:30 PM IST
Where: Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh
What to expect: A hot evening, and an inclination to bat first? The average first innings score at the venue this year has been 173, with three of the four games won by the team setting the target.
Head to head:PBKS 18 - 17 RCB. They've played twice this season, winning one game apiece. The last time they met, at this venue, RCB came up trumps en route to an
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