Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has backed Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to win the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025), following their thumping win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1 on Thursday, May 29. RCB hammered PBKS by eight wickets in Qualifier 1 and qualified for the final, fourth time in their history.
Suyash Sharma was adjudged Player of the Match for his marvellous spell of 3/17 in three overs as he dismissed Marcus Stoinis, Shashank Singh and Musheer Khan. The wrist-spinner became the ninth player to win Player of the Match for RCB this season, underscoring their non-reliance on individual performers unlike previous seasons.
Commenting on Suyash’s performance, Gavaskar praised RCB for finding new match winners in every game and backed them to win the tournament.
“Yes, I think that actually tells you the story of RCB this year is that they haven’t been reliant on one or two players one player in batting or one player in bowling. Everywhere, somewhere or the other has put their hand up and taken the team home. And I think that is the key to what we have seen why RCB are in the final and possibly will be the champions on the 3rd of June,” Gavaskar told India Today.
Furthermore, the legendary batter also extolled the team for showing maturity and having subdued celebrations after their win over PBKS, saying that they’re focussed on winning the final.
“Yes, they know that they still have one big game to play and so they’re not getting carried away by this win. This is a massive win, as you said, the biggest win in terms of number of deliveries left. So any team could get carried away. But because this team has had the experience of being in the final and the disappointment of losing the final. They know that they have one big battle ahead, so they’re not getting carried away, and that’s the way to be,” he added.
RCB will play the final on June 3 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. RCB have lost all of their prevoius three finals in IPL history. However, the odds seem to be in their favour this time around as teams winning Qualifier 1 have won the IPL title in 11 of the 14 times in IPL history. Meanwhile, Punjab Kings will now face the winner of the Eliminator fixture between Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans, set to be played on June 30 in Mullanpur.