Shreyas Iyer After PBKS vs RCB: It was one-way traffic from the start of the match in Qualifier 1 as the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) secured a place in the IPL 2025 final, their fourth IPL final and first since 2016, by beating the Punjab Kings (PBKS), the home side, in Mullanpur.
PBKS received a thrashing of a high order from RCB, who registered a win by eight wickets and 60 balls to spare, the highest margin of victory (in terms of balls left) in an IPL playoff match.
The match was effectively sealed in its first half when RCB bowled PBKS out for only 101 runs. The RCB pacers hit the perfect lengths and got some bounce and movement to induce false shots from the PBKS top and middle order before leg-spinner Suyash Sharma spun a web with his googlies.
Josh Hazlewood, who missed the last couple of games due to a shoulder niggle, was on the money straightaway on his return and bagged 3/21, while Suyash claimed figures of 3/17. Yash Dayal plucked two wickets, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Romario Shepherd took a wicket each.
PBKS lost their first wicket in the second over of their innings and suffered a terrible slide, with most of their batsmen getting out to attacking shots, including captain Shreyas Iyer, who edged Hazlewood while attempting a pull shot on just the third ball he faced.
In the aftermath of the loss in RCB vs PBKS, Iyer said his batsmen were left “befuddled” in the face of high-quality, accurate bowling on a spicy pitch.
Shreyas Iyer said, “Not a day to forget, but we have to go to the drawing board. We were befuddled and lost a lot of wickets. There’s a lot to go back and study on. I am not doubting on my decisions, to be honest. Whatever we did in terms of planning, outside of the ground, whatever (planning) we did, I think it was on point. Just that we couldn’t execute it on the field.
“Can’t even blame the bowlers, as it was a low total to defend. We got to work on our batting, especially on this wicket. In all the games we have played here, there has been some variable bounce.”
Lost the battle, but not the war: Shreyas Iyer After PBKS vs RCB
While they lost in Qualifier 1, Punjab will have another opportunity to reach the final when they play Qualifier 2, facing the winner of the Eliminator between Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans. This is a luxury Punjab earned by finishing the league stage in the top two; they actually topped the points table.
The PBKS skipper concluded, “We can’t give such reasons because we are professionals at the end of the day, and we have to bat according to the situation, and we have to live up to it. We have lost the battle, but not the war.”
MI and GT will also play in Mullanpur on Friday. The Qualifier 2 and the final will be played in Ahmedabad on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.
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