Punjab Kings take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on Thursday, May 29. In his maiden stint as PBKS captain, Shreyas Iyer has led the franchise to its first appearance in the playoffs since 2014. They won nine games and lost just four out of the 14 they played in the round-robin phase of the tournament. One game was washed out. PBKS registered a comprehensive seven-wicket win in their most recent fixture against Mumbai Indians in Jaipur to punch their tickets to Qualifier 1
Meanwhile, RCB have finished in the top two for the first time since 2016. They finished second in the league behind PBKS. Rajat Patidar and Co. also had the same number of wins and losses in the league stages as PBKS, but their net run rate was slightly lower than that of Shreyas’ men. RCB defeated Lucknow Super Giants in the last league game of the season, chasing down a 228-run target, their highest successful run-chase ever. These two teams met twice in the league phase. PBKS won at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, while RCB avenged the defeat in Mullanpur.
Virat Kohli, the star player of RCB has been in stunning form yet again this season. He has amassed 602 runs from 13 innings at an average of 60.20 and a strike rate of 147.92. What has been refreshing to see this season has been Kohli’s willingness to go after the bowlers from the outset. He has smashed eight half-centuries so far. The former India captain will want to get his team off to a solid start once again.
| Pos | Teams | M | W | L | T | N/R | PT | NRR | Series Form | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  pbks | 14 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 19 | +0.372 | WLWWW | |
| 2 |  rcb | 14 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 19 | +0.301 | WLAWW | |
| 3 |  gt | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 18 | +0.254 | LLWWW | |
| 4 |  mi | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16 | +1.142 | LWLWW | |
| 5 |  dc | 14 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 15 | +0.011 | WLLAL |
