In the final league game, Royal Challengers Bangalore is yet again proven successful as visitors as a opposed to their own backyard when they chased down a challenging target of 228 set by Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow last night.
LSG had an excellent outing with the bat as opener Mitchel Marsh came good yet again with 67 and skipper Rishab Pant with his maiden century in IPL 2025 unbeaten on 118 runs in 61 balls with 11 boundaries and 8 sixes.
Only Sri Lankan slinger Nuwan Thushara was a threat when he bowled 4 overs for 26 runs with the scalp of Marsh.
RCB had to get to the target to reach qualifier 1 and play against table leaders Punjab Kings, which gives them an opportunity to play two games instead of one to reach the finals.
This is the reason a win for RCB in the league game was a must.
No doubt 228 runs in 20 overs in a must win game is herculean. They lost Phil Salt for 30 with the score on 60, Rajat Padikar for 14 with the score on 90, Liam Livingston for no score back to back with the total on 90 and chase Master Virat Kholi for 54 in the 12th over with the score on 124.
Then things turned on its head for team RCB. Skipper Jitesh Sharma slammed a blistering 85 unbeaten runs in 33 balls with Mayank Agrawal 41 as RCB reached the target in 18.3 overs to win by 6 wickets.
It was an exhibition of power hitting under lights.
With this win, the final points table reads as appended.
1 . PBKS 19 points
2.RCB 19 points
3.Gujrat Titans 18 points
4 Mumbai Indians 14 points.
So, how does it work from here. Note down.
Punjab Kings plays Royal Challengers Bangalore in Qualifier 1 tomorrow, and the winner is parachuted to the finals whilst the loser has a second bite of the cherry to play against the winner of the eliminator round. In this instance, the winner of the Gujarat Titans vs. Mumbai Indians will play the second Qualifier against the loser of the Qualifier 1 game
PBKS VS RCB ON THURSDAY 29TH MAY
GT VS MI ON FRIDAY 30TH OF MAY.