RCB vs PBKS, IPL 2025 Final: RCB Lifts The 18th Season Trophy

In the much-awaited RCB vs PBKS, IPL 2025 Final, bowlers of Punjab Kings demonstrated world-class execution and strategic acumen to restrict Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a fighting but chaseable total of 190/9 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

RCB managed to restrict PBKS to just 184 runs, with a 6-run margin. Punjab lost the game. And RCB lifted the trophy after 18 years of waiting in the 18th season.

PBKS Bowlers Make Most of Pitch Conditions to Perfection

 

The Ahmedabad pitch offered just enough help with its tennis-ball bounce to compensate for bowling, particularly when deliveries had pace taken out of them. The surface wasn’t traditionally slow, yet the ball would grip and bounce erratically when bowled on a hard length, and clean shot-getting was difficult.

The PBKS seam attack, which comprised Kyle Jamieson, Arshdeep Singh, and Vijaykumar Vyshak, took advantage of it. Their persistence in using slower deliveries and legcutters paid rich dividends against what would have otherwise been a very strong RCB top order.

Virat Kohli scored the most for RCB with a cautious 43 from 35 balls, but found it difficult to time his pull shots — an indication of the uneven bounce of the pitch.

Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, and Liam Livingstone all began promisingly, but none managed to convert. All three fell to Kyle Jamieson, who was excellent with his variation, particularly the slower legcutter.

Jitesh Sharma Sparks Brief RCB Revival

Jitesh Sharma delivered a scorching cameo, hitting 24 off only 10 balls. He was the solitary RCB batsman who appeared to decipher the PBKS code employing footwork and exploiting behind the wicket zones to tackle the hard lengths. His 36-run unbeaten stand in 12 balls with Livingstone provided RCB with optimism of reaching the 200-mark.

Death Overs Dominance: Vyshak and Arshdeep Seals the Deal

Punjab Kings’ death bowling was top-class:

Vijaykumar Vyshak bowled an excellent 18th over, giving only five runs and getting rid of the dangerous Jitesh Sharma.
In the 20th over, Arshdeep Singh masterfully employed reverse swing to pick up three vital wickets. His full, stump-targeting balls put a stop to RCB’s momentum, and the last over cost only five runs.

Punjab’s close attempt to chase 

Openers Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya started well with 52 runs in the powerplay, but Priyansh got dismissed at 24 in the over by Josh Hazlewood due to Will Jacks’ brilliant catch on the boundary line. Jos Inglis took over the control with his strong pull shot game, contributing 39 off 23 balls.

After the wicket of Prabhsimran, the run rate got low due to tight bowling spells by Krunal Pandya. Nehal Wadhera played with a strike rate below 100, which mounted pressure on the other end, and Inglis got caught on the long-on by Liam Livingston in the over of Krunal.

This shifted the momentum completely in the RCB’s favor, and the pressure of increasing the run rate eventually took over, resulting in the loss of consecutive wickets. Ultimately, Shashank Singh’s innings of 61 runs off 30 balls went in vain, with 6 runs short of victory.

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