A delayed Indian Premier League season finally draws to a close on Tuesday when the IPL 2025 final is played out in Ahmedabad where the Royal Challengers Bangalore take on the Punjab Kings in the title showdown.
We are guaranteed a different winner of the tournament because neither of these teams have ever got their hands on the trophy. One of them will make history for their franchise while the other will be licking their wounds again.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
It has been a good end to the season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and they head into this final with all the advantages that come from winning the Qualifier 1 match. They have had the most amount of rest possible and have been able to take their time to get to Ahmedabad for this battle and they also know that they have beaten the team that they face here in these playoffs already. Now it is about putting history behind them and getting the job done.
Bangalore have been on it with the bat for a while. There was a chance that injuries would derail them but they haven’t let that happen, but you get the impression that if they are going to win this match, or have the match set up for them to win, then much like in Qualifier 1, their bowling is going to need to make early inroads. If that can happen then Bangalore certainly have the experience and talent to get the job done and finally win this elusive trophy.
Punjab Kings
The Punjab Kings had to take the much longer route through to this final than they would have wanted once they had topped the table at the end of the regular season. Losing in Qualifier 1 meant that they knew they would have to win a knockout match to get into this final. The fact that they did that and chased down over 200 in doing so might actually work out well for them as they are in no doubt that they have what it takes under real pressure despite the mess they made of their first playoff match.
Punjab will need to have learned from that showing. They went far too hard at the top and got themselves in a right mess, one which they were never likely to escape from. If there is another positive to losing that match it would be that they have played here in Ahmedabad in these finals but the down side to that is the rain meant that they didn’t finish that game until around 1.30am local time and have to back up less than 48 hours later which is never easy.
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Key Players
Virat Kohli will be the man everyone looks at for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in this match. He has been there, done it and seen it all and if Bangalore are to manage the pressure they could do with their star man doing much of it.
After coming in for some criticism of his shot selection that led to his wicket in Qualifier 1, Shreyas Iyer reminded everyone of his quality in Qualifier 2 and the Punjab Kings will hope for another innings like that from their captain in this final.
Betting
If you have followed this site throughout the competition then you will have a betting slip for the Punjab Kings to win this match at 11/1 as they were our selection before a ball was bowled and there is no reason to swerve them now. This one is probably 50:50 so I wouldn’t put anyone off hedging out given that we can get Bangalore at a backable 4/5 but that isn’t my style so I’ll let my outright bet ride and head to the side markets for a bet.
That comes in under 385.5 runs. That means if the chasing side wins then the first innings score needs to be 193 which feels high for a final but were the side setting the score to win then more than that will be needed. We have to accept how big this match is for both sides. It isn’t just the final but the chance to finally get their hands on this trophy so there is going to be tons of pressure on both teams and scoreboard pressure would certainly be a thing. The Qualifier 1 match between the two was very low scoring and the regular season meeting wasn’t much more free flowing. This is a high scoring ground but in tricky bowling conditions There was only 410 runs here on Sunday. You have to go back to 2016 when the final was held in Bangalore for the last time this run line was covered and with all the pressure on these sides I’ll play the under again.
Tips
Back Under 385.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Betway
