Rishabh Pant finally struck form in IPL 2025 to produce an unbeaten 118 off 61, but his brute of a knock was eclipsed by Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s incumbent skipper Jitesh Sharma, who came up with a sterling 85* off 33 to help his franchise claim a Qualifier 1 berth for the first time since 2016 with a six-wicket win. LSG’s gargantuan total of 227/3 was built on Pant’s 152-run alliance for the second wicket with Mitchell Marsh. RCB had a hundred partnership of their own as Jitesh found an able partner in Mayank Agarwal after the fall of four wickets. Virat Kohli also played an important hand (54 off 30) to keep RCB going in the first half of the tall chase before Jitesh conjured up a blinder as RCB ran away with the game.
LSG got off to a flying start after RCB won the toss and opted to bowl. Matthew Breetzke, making his IPL debut, hit Krunal Pandya for a six in the second over as 21 runs came off the first two overs. Breetzke was then dinged on his helmet by a short ball from Nuwan Thushara before a yorker from the Sri Lankan disturbed his furniture. Skipper Pant came in at No.3 and hit the straps from the word go, creaming two fours and a six off Yash Dayal.
LSG further wrested the momentum when Pant fetched a six and a four off Bhuvneshwar Kumar, while Marsh, who had lost his fluency along the way, found his mojo back with a six off Romario Shepherd. Suyash Sharma started well but later came in the firing line as Pant rustled up a 29-ball fifty, with LSG prancing to 100 at the halfway stage of their innings. Dayal proved expensive in his second over as well, and Shepherd continued to leak runs too as Marsh crossed 600 runs in the season and also brought up the century stand in the process. Now there was no stopping the juggernaut as Shepherd was taken apart for two sixes by Pant, the steady flow of runs establishing a robust platform heading into the death overs.
Even though Marsh fell after posting his seventh 50+ score of this edition, off 31 balls, and Thushara bowed out with economical figures of 1 for 26, RCB weren’t allowed a sniff as Pant raced to a 54-ball ton with a couple of fours off Bhuvneshwar and celebrated a return to his prime with a cartwheel. He carried his ball-striking rhythm into the fag end of the innings, burying RCB under an avalanche of runs.
The RCB openers blazed off the blocks, dealing in regular boundaries. There were as many as eight in the first three overs, including five in the second over bowled by William O’Rourke, four of which pinged off Kohli’s bat. The half-century stand was brought up in the fourth over with Phil Salt bashing two fours off Shahbaz Ahmed. Avesh Khan began his quota on a grim note before Akash Singh picked up the wicket of Salt, who suffered a soft dismissal.
Impact Player Rajat Patidar contributed only 14, extending what has been an ordinary season for him as a batter. RCB suddenly found themselves at panic stations as Liam Livingstone, Tim David’s replacement, fell for a first-ball duck. The responsibility to see the chase through was pretty much on the shoulders of Kohli, who crossed the 600-run milestone for the third consecutive year in IPL with a four off Akash Singh. In the same over, local boy Mayank Agarwal collected three boundaries to guide RCB to 115/3 at the end of the 10th over.
LSG, however, clawed their way back into the contest as Kohli chipped an Avesh delivery to long-off. Jitesh stroked a six and a four in a 17-run over off the under-fire O’Rourke, and escaped a run-out situation after a mix-up with Mayank. A 21-run over off Shahbaz released the pressure to a great extent, bringing the equation down to 51 off 30.
Jitesh continued to find the fence, getting two fours off Avesh as the required rate came below 10. Luck favoured Jitesh once again – he thought he was a goner on 49 attempting a reverse-sweep off Digvesh Rathi but the third umpire adjudged it as a back-foot no-ball. The free-hit was duly dispatched for a six as he galloped to a 22-ball fifty. More drama ensued as the spinner tried running Jitesh out for leaving his crease too early at the non-striker’s end but Pant withdrew the appeal. The equation was 28 off 18 at the onset of the 18th over but was soon reduced to 7 off 12 thanks to Jitesh’s takedown of O’Rourke, who finished with torrid figures of 2 for 74. The stand-in skipper, justly, finished things off, pummeling a six off Ayush Badoni and letting out a roar to mark the accomplishment of RCB’s highest successful chase.
