IPL 2025|, RCB vs PBKS ; Today qualifier match, RCB mood Towards the final entry,

Chandigarh: Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings, two equally strong teams in the eighteenth edition of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, will face off in the qualifier to be held on Thursday.Both the teams have scored 19 points each in this tournament. However, hosts Punjab, who have achieved a slightly higher net run rate, are in the first and second positions, followed by Bengaluru. They have played 14 matches each. They have lost 4 and won 9. One match each has been abandoned due to rain. Punjab and RCB have faced each other twice in the league stage. Punjab led by Shreyas Iyer won in Bengaluru and RCB led by Rajat Patidar won in Mullanpur.

Another special thing is; both these teams have been playing in the IPL since 2008. But they have not won the title till now. Especially the Kings team has made it to the qualifiers after 11 years. Here are the strengths and weaknesses of these teams;

Royal Challengers Bangalore team strength

A well-organised force in the batting department. Virat Kohli (602 runs), Phil Salt (331), Rajat Patidar (271), Jitesh Sharma (237) and Tim David (187) are in excellent form.The two all-rounders who were instrumental in the match wins were Krunal Pandya (15 wickets) and Romero Shepherd, who also excelled in both batting and bowling.This time, the team is not relying on just one or two stars. Even the seventh-string batters are making useful contributions.

Weaknesses

In the bowling department, Josh Hazlewood has returned to the team. But he went for treatment on April 27 due to a shoulder injury. He has not played in any match since then. He returned to his native Australia for treatment and returned. He did not play in the last match of the league stage either. So there is no clear information about his fitness.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal have had their ups and downs in form. But at this stage, the challenge is for them to perform to their full potential. There is a lack of capable bowlers in the spin department who can win matches. Krunal Pandya is the only pressure.The team has been able to win a lot of games thanks to the good batting of opener Virat Kohli. He has scored eight half-centuries this time. But he has not scored a half-century in any of the four matches that RCB has lost. So, Punjab bowlers are likely to focus more on tying him down.

Punjab Kings team strength

The top three batsmen have scored more than 400 runs each. Skipper Shreyas Iyer (514 runs), Prabhasimran Singh (499) and Priyansh Arya (424) are in excellent form.Nehal Vadra (298), Shashank Singh (284) and Josh Inglis (197) have also strengthened the team's batting department in the middle order.The team's spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (14 wickets) and Harpreet Brar (10 wickets) are in excellent form. Pacer Arshdeep Singh is also in good form.

Weaknesses

This is the first qualifier for most of the players in the Punjab team. This is because the team has entered the playoffs after 11 years. Chahal and Shreyas have experience of playing in the playoffs in the past.Punjab bowlers have been successful in taking wickets, but they have also been costly, conceding 8.5 runs per over.RCB defeated Punjab in the league stage match held in Mullanpur.

How is the pitch?

The heat of summer is intense in this area. The weather forecast predicts a maximum temperature of 38 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 20 degrees Celsius on the day of the match.The last two matches played at this stadium have seen totals of more than 200 runs scored in the three innings, so there is every possibility of a run-flow in this match as well.

teams

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Jitesh Sharma,(captain), Rajat Patidar, Virat Kohli, Philip Salt, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Liam Livingstone, Romero Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Bethell, Swaptil Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Nuwan Thushara, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Agarwal, Blessing Muzzarabani, Tip Seifert,

Punjab Kings: Shreyas Iyer(Captain), Priyansh Arya, Prabhasimran Singh, Josh Inglis, Marcus Soinis, Praveen Dubey, Azjatullah Omarza, Shashank Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Xavier