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Peter Green - May 28, 2025
Two trophy-less teams will lock horns at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in the Qualifier 1 of IPL on Thursday. Both Punjab Kings and RCB are in strong form this IPL season, with PBKS showing more consistency by winning four of their last five matches.
Shreyas Iyer has revived PBKS, leading them to their first playoff appearance in 11 years with six uncapped players. Meanwhile, RCB enters this clash after a stunning chase against LSG, scoring 230 in just 18.4 overs. With both sides in top gear, fans can expect a thrilling contest.
Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore have faced off 33 times in the IPL. PBKS leads the head-to-head with 17 wins, while RCB has 16, making this a very balanced rivalry.
At the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, the two teams have met once, with RCB winning by 4 wickets during the 2024 season.
In the past five meetings, RCB has dominated with four wins. However, this season, both teams have one win each in their head-to-head clashes.
Captain- Shreyas Iyer
Priyansh Arya, Josh Inglis, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Kyle Jamieson, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh
Impact Player: Prabhsimran Singh
Captain- Jitesh Sharma
Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarawal, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma
Impact Player: Rajat Patidar
Shreyas Iyer (PBKS): Iyer remains a key figure in PBKS’s top order. He has scored at least 16 runs in his last four innings and enters this clash after an unbeaten 26 off 16 balls against Mumbai Indians.
Virat Kohli (RCB): Kohli has been RCB’s most consistent batter, scoring 40+ in each of his last six matches. He comes into this game after a fluent 54 off 30 balls against LSG.
Marco Jansen (PBKS): Jansen is consistently picking up wickets for Punjab. He took 2 for 34 against MI and now has 16 wickets from 14 matches, with a wicket in each of his last five outings.
RCB’s last game against LSG saw a dreadful display of bowling in the death overs from the Bangalore bowlers. Missing out their key death over bowler Josh Hazlewood was the main reason for it. However, he is in the squad for the Qualifier game but still, it doesn’t look that easy as they faces the current best IPL team Punjab Kings.
Moreover, Punjab’s squad has the potential to take the game forward even if they starts the game poorly, especially in the batting display as they owns a stunning middle order.
RCB’s bowling struggled in the death overs during their last match against LSG. The absence of Josh Hazlewood was a key factor. Although he’s available for this game, facing the in-form Punjab side won’t be easy.
Punjab’s lineup has shown depth, especially in the middle order, and can recover from early setbacks to post strong totals.
PBKS has three players with scores of 90+ this season and has notched two half-centuries in two of their last three games. In contrast, RCB’s highest individual score this season is 85, while a rival player—Rishabh Pant—scored a century in the same match.
PBKS looks stronger and more balanced than RCB. With a powerful batting lineup and a reliable bowling unit, they’ve already proven their strength by restricting RCB to just 94/9 in one of their earlier encounters.
Though Iyer hasn’t had big scores against RCB recently, he’s been in top form with three 30+ scores in his last four matches, including a finishing 26* against MI.
Hazlewood has been outstanding, claiming six wickets in his last two matches. He has 18 wickets from 10 games this season and is currently fourth in the Purple Cap standings.
