Punjab Kings lost the Qualifier 1 to RCB by eight wickets
Punjab Kings qualified for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 playoffs in the top position and looked in good stead winning four out of their last five group games convincingly. However, their clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) brutally exposed their batting flaws as they were all out for 101 runs. RCB then dispatched the target in just 10 overs with eight wickets in hand.
However, their top-two finish means they’ll get another crack at the final on June 3 when they take on Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. MI had beaten an in-form Gujarat Titans by 20 runs to reach Qualifier 2.
Punjab Kings went for a high-risk high-reward approach through this season and it has mostly been rewarding for them. They became only the third ever T20 side to have posted seven 200-plus totals while batting first in a single season but imploded spectacularly against RCB.
Even when they were losing wickets, their batters went for flashy shots and perished. Captain Shreyas Iyer, usually level headed with his approach, misread the situation and went for an off-drive against Josh Hazlewood who was getting the ball to tear through the air and off the pitch.
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They will be moving to Ahmedabad which has seen many high-scoring clashes this season. Out of the 14 innings from seven matches in IPL 2025, teams have crossed the 200-run barrier eight times.
Punjab Kings will still need to be a bit cautious with their approach if they are to reach the final for the first time in 11 years.
Yuzvendra Chahal has started the season slow with only two wickets from four games, but quickly made up for it with 12 wickets from the next six matches.
Chahal didn’t feature in the Qualifier 1 against RCB as he was recovering from a wrist injury he suffered after the clash against Rajasthan Royals and had to miss the matches against Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians.
It is unlikely the premier leg-spinner will return to the playing XI for the second match even though the reports said that he only suffered a minor niggle.
In Chahal’s place, PBKS will most likely continue with Vijaykumar Vyshak for the MI clash. The team are likely to rope in left-arm spinner Musheer Khan just like against RCB.
Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai got the game time in the last five games, but the all-rounder has been decent at best with 56 runs and five wickets. Against RCB, he managed to add a crucial 18 runs in the end which helped PBKS go past 100 runs.
In his place, Punjab Kings can bring in Big Bash League 2024-25 winner Mitchell Owen for the do or die clash on Sunday.
Owen has been brought in as a replacement player before the league was suspended but is yet to get a game. However, his track record of blasting the fastest hundred in BBL history in the recent final to win the match, could get him a shoe-in for the MI clash as a genuine fast-bowling all-rounder.
Mumbai Indians: Jonny Bairstow (wk), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Raj Bawa, Hardik Pandya (c), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Josh Inglis (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Mitchell Owen, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Harpreet Brar, Musheer Khan, Arshdeep Singh
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