IPL 2025 Qualifier 1 PBKS vs RCB Highlights: RCB triumph with convincing win, march into finals

Yash Dayal strikes again, dismissing Nehal Wadhera for 8 runs off 10 balls, with one boundary and no sixes.

Yash Dayal bowls to Wadhera, who takes a quick two runs with a well-placed shot.

Hazlewood bowls a back-of-a-length delivery on leg stump, and Stoinis swiftly gets across to pull it for a massive six over deep square leg.

Hazlewood bowls a back-of-a-length delivery outside off stump to Stoinis, who attempts a pull shot. Though the ball takes a thick inside edge, it flies past the leg stump for four runs.

Josh Inglis top-edges Hazlewood’s delivery and is caught by Kumar, giving Hazlewood his second wicket. Inglis scored 4 runs off 7 balls with no boundaries or sixes.

Yash Dayal bowls to Nehal Wadhera, who punishes a full-length delivery by tonking it straight over the bowler’s head. Positioned outside off, Wadhera swings confidently through the line to score his first boundary.

Josh Hazlewood strikes again, dismissing Shreyas Iyer for just 2 runs off 3 balls. Iyer edged the ball to the wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma, adding to RCB’s growing momentum as they continue to take quick wickets. RCB are on fire early in this crucial qualifier clash.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowls to Prabhsimran Singh, who is caught by the wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma. Prabhsimran scores 18 runs off 10 balls, including two fours and one six, with a strike rate of 180 before getting out.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowls to Prabhsimran Singh, who charges down the track and strikes a length ball outside off stump. He lofts it confidently over mid-off for a boundary. Although the bat turned slightly in his hand, Prabhsimran comfortably beats the fielder inside the circle to secure four runs.

Yash Dayal bowls to Prabhsimran Singh, who launches a powerful six over the boundary, showcasing aggressive intent early in the innings.

Yash Dayal struck early for RCB, dismissing Priyansh Arya on the second ball of his spell. Arya scored 7 runs off 5 balls, including one boundary, before being caught by Pandya. This early breakthrough put pressure on Punjab Kings as they lost their opener quickly in the qualifier.

A steady start for Punjab Kings as they score 8 runs without losing a wicket. Prabhsimran Singh has 1 run off 2 balls, while Priyansh Arya leads with 7 runs from 4 balls, including a boundary. Bhuvneshwar Kumar concedes 8 runs in his first over.

Arya smashes the first boundary of Qualifier 1 with a crisp shot.

Arya strikes through midwicket, finds the gap for two runs. No significant movement from the bowler.

There’s a nervous buzz all around the stadium. The stands are packed with passionate PBKS supporters, but RCB fans have made their presence felt too. The RCB players are out on the field, with Virat Kohli leading the charge. Umpires Virender Sharma and Michael Gough take their positions. The atmosphere lights up with fireworks and a red carpet as the RCB team makes their entrance, followed by the two uncapped PBKS openers, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh.

“It was a run chase for the ages. The wicket in Lucknow was obviously very good, and the way Jitesh came out and finished the job was the kind of innings you dream of when chasing. Regarding another game, given the schedule and circumstances, we have no choice but to accept it as it is. We focus on finishing this game, recovering, and then preparing to get on the plane again. Reaching this stage of the competition is exactly where you want to be—it’s unbelievably exciting for any player. Having Hazlewood back is great; hopefully, he stays on top tonight and continues from where he left off.”

Alright, here’s the take on the teams: RCB’s got Josh Hazlewood back, but Nuwan Thushara misses out. On the PBKS side, Yuzvendra Chahal still isn’t back due to his wrist injury, though Shashank saw him bowling a lot in practice. Tim David is also not fully fit yet. PBKS might bring in Vijaykumar Vyshak when bowling, while RCB could rely on Mayank Agarwal during their chase. This definitely shapes up to be an intriguing contest!

PBKS Impact Subs: Vijaykumar Vyshak, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Musheer Khan, Xavier Bartlett

RCB Impact Subs: Mayank Agarwal, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Tim Seifert, Swapnil Singh

PBKS XI: 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 Harpreet Brar, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Arshdeep Singh

RCB XI: 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Rajat Patidar (capt), 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Romario Shepherd, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Yash Dayal, 10 Josh Hazlewood, 11 Suyash Sharma

Rajat Patidar on toss decision: “The wicket looks pretty hard with a decent amount of grass covering. We want to maximize the first few overs.” He added, “Everyone gave more than 100% in the last game. There are a few niggles.” One change in the lineup as Josh Hazlewood replaces Nuwan Thushara.

Rajat Patidar wins the toss and elects to bowl first as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) choose to field in the crucial IPL 2025 Qualifier 1 match.

Out of four games played here this season, three—including all night matches—were won by teams batting first. The only successful chase happened during a day game. With the first qualifier coming up, the toss will be crucial, and it will be interesting to see what the captain winning the toss decides to do.

The stadium dimensions vary: 62 meters on one side, 65 meters on the other, and 73 meters straight down the ground, making it a deceptively large venue. The pitch has been used twice this season—one night game saw 200+ runs, while a day game ended with just 150+ runs. The presence of some grass on the pitch suggests it will assist the batters, helping the ball come onto the bat nicely, especially at the other end. This should make batting easier and the contest interesting.

The stage is set for a thrilling IPL 2025 Qualifier 1 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru face Punjab Kings in Mullanpur. With fans backing both sides, expect a high-octane battle. Toss is scheduled for 7:00 PM IST. Stay tuned for live updates and key match moments.

Virat Kohli vs Shreyas Iyer. Arshdeep Singh vs Phil Salt. Yuzvendra Chahal’s mind games against his old team. The subplots are juicy, the stakes are sky-high, and the atmosphere is crackling with anticipation.

Qualifier 1 of IPL 2025 promises a thriller as Punjab Kings host Royal Challengers Bengaluru at their New Chandigarh fortress. While it’s PBKS’ home ground, expect a sea of red in the stands—RCB fans will be out in force, chanting “Aaarceeebeee” and holding on to their eternal belief: Ee Sala Cup Namde.

Punjab Kings (probable): 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 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Harpreet Brar, 11 Arshdeep Singh, 12 Yuzvendra Chahal

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable): 1 Virat Kohli, 2 Phil Salt, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Romario Shepherd, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Yash Dayal, 11 Josh Hazlewood, 12 Suyash Sharma

New Chandigarh has hosted four IPL matches this season. The first two games saw high-scoring battles with three totals exceeding 200 runs. However, the last two matches were low-scoring affairs, with teams being bowled out for 111 and 95, and a modest total of 157 for 6 in 20 overs. The pitch for Thursday’s match remains uncertain and could favor either batsmen or bowlers. The weather is expected to be warm, with temperatures around 30°C and no chance of rain.

Mayank Agarwal averages only 12.00 against Chahal in the IPL, with six dismissals for 72 runs. However, he maintains an impressive strike rate of 160.00, scoring 72 runs off 45 balls, including five sixes.

Arshdeep Singh has dominated Phil Salt in T20s, removing him 4 times in just 32 balls while giving away only 25 runs.

Hazlewood has dismissed Iyer three times in just 19 T20 balls, conceding only nine runs. Similarly, Bhuvneshwar Kumar has taken Iyer’s wicket thrice in the IPL, giving away 45 runs in 50 balls. Although Iyer has been out only once to Krunal Pandya, his strike rate against him remains low at 85.41, scoring 41 runs off 48 balls.