In the IPL 2025 final, Punjab Kings’ seamers smartly executed their plans to limit Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to 190 for 9 on an Ahmedabad pitch that rewarded pace-off deliveries. The surface, with its tennis-ball bounce, made shot-making tricky enough to contain batters through persistent and skilful bowling.
RCB’s campaign was led by Virat Kohli, who managed a 43 off 35 balls but struggled with timing, notably on his pull shots. As Tom Moody observed, “You can see Kohli’s eagerness to win the IPL.”
Punjab’s bowlers, notably Kyle Jamieson, impressed. Jamieson claimed three critical wickets, dismissing Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, and Liam Livingstone just as they began to pose a threat. His utilisation of slower legcutters kept the opposition on their toes.
Despite Kohli’s intentions, the only RCB batter to truly find form against Punjab’s hard lengths was Jitesh Sharma. He hit 24 from 10 balls, cleverly making room to exploit angles behind the wicket. His brief yet explosive partnership with Livingstone — 36 runs off just 12 balls — appeared poised to push RCB’s score past 200.
However, their ambitions were curtailed by Punjab’s disciplined death bowling. Vijaykumar Vyshak was effective in the 18th over, conceding just five runs and dismissing Jitesh. Arshdeep Singh followed up by clinically executing his final over, capturing three wickets courtesy of reverse swing, while allowing only five runs.
RCB’s line-up battled under pressure but remained restricted, setting Punjab Kings a chase that, based on recent performances, they seem poised to handle confidently.
