IPL 2025 Qualifier 1 – Why Yuzvendra Chahal Is Missing PBKS vs RCB Match: Punjab Kings (PBKS), who topped the IPL 2025 points table, are playing Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the first qualifier at Mullanpur, Chandigarh. Both teams finished with 19 points, but PBKS had a better net run rate.
PBKS vs RCB: High-Stakes Battle in Qualifier 1
The winner goes straight to the final. The loser gets another chance in the second qualifier against the winner of the Eliminator between the Gujarat Titans and the Mumbai Indians.
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PBKS will miss their main spinner, Yuzvendra Chahal, due to a wrist injury. He has missed the last two games and is still not fit. Harpreet Brar will lead the spin attack instead. Chahal has taken 14 wickets this season, including a hat-trick and a key 4-wicket game against Kolkata Knight Riders.
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RCB won the toss and chose to field. They made one change by bringing in Josh Hazlewood for Nuwan Thushara. PBKS brought back Azmatullah Omarzai in place of Marco Jansen.
IPL 2025 Qualifier 1: PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer “optimistic”
“Would have bowled first as well. If you look at the record here, teams batting first have done well, so I am optimistic. They (the crowd) have been tremendous and you need such kind of vibration when you enter the ground and it gives us a lot of energy as well. The way they (openers) have been showing the fearless approach and the attitude has been brilliant. Marco goes out and Azmatullah comes in for him,” said PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer.
IPL 2025 Qualifier 1: Pitch report
“The square boundaries are 62m and 65m respectively, it’s 73m straight down the ground. It is deceptively a biggish venue. This pitch was used twice before this season. In the night game, 200+ was scored, while 150-plus was scored in the day game. The pitch has got a lot of grass, so it will help the batters as the ball will come on to the bat nicely. There’s a lot of grass at one end for the fast bowlers, but it will only help the ball come on to the bat better. At the other end, the length where spinners might pitch the ball, there’s very less grass on that particular area. So it might slow down a little bit for the spinners. There’s a bit of moisture in the air, so there will be a little bit of dew as well. Out of the four games, three games were won by the team batting first, those were all night games. The only game that was won by the team batting second was the day game,” said former India player Deep Dasgupta while assessing the pitch.
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