IPL 2025: Punjab Kings reached the final and RCB won the title by chance

Punjab Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by five wickets in Qualifier-2 played in Ahmedabad on Sunday. With this, Punjab scripted its second entry into the title match in IPL history. The Punjab team played the IPL final in the year 2014. The final match of IPL-2025 is to be played in Ahmedabad on June 3, where the Kings are to play against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The RCB team is in the final after defeating Punjab in Qualifier-1. After 9 years, this is going to take place when RCB is to play the title match. Earlier, the RCB played the final in the years 2009, 2011, and 2016.

It is a fact that 11 out of 14 times, the team that won Qualifier-1 also won the title that season. From 2008 to 2010, the knockout matches of the league were played in the semi-final format. At that time, two semi-finals and one final match were played. In 2011, the rules changed, and the playoffs began. Under the new system, the teams that are in the top-2 in the points table get two chances to reach the final. Since the new playoff system has been introduced, till the year 2024, the team that won Qualifier-1 has captured the trophy 11 times that season.

RCB full squad: Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (captain), Swastik Chikara, Jitesh Sharma, Philip Salt, Manoj Bhandaage, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingstone, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Nuwan Tushara, Yash Dayal, Rasikh Dar Salam, Suyash Sharma, Mohit Rathi, Abhinandan Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Blessing Muzarabani, Tim Seifert.

Punjab Kings Squad: Nehal Wadhera, Harnoor Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Mushir Khan, Paila Avinash, Prabhsimran Singh, Vishnu Vinod, Josh Inglis, Marcus Stoinis, Praveen Dubey, Priyansh Arya, Azmatullah Umarzai, Aaron Hardy, Harpreet Brar, Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Kuldeep Sen, Vijaykumar Vaishakh, Yash Thakur, Mitchell Owen, Kyle Jamieson.