Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra heaped praise on Royal Challengers Bengaluru after they registered a comprehensive eight-wicket win against Punjab Kings in the first qualifier at Mullanpur in the ongoing IPL 2025 on Thursday.
After electing to bat first, RCB were able to skittle out PBKS at a paltry score of 101. The visitors bowlers were right on the money from the get-go and PBKS batters could not get any impetus into their innings as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Josh Hazlewood and Suyash Sharma bagged three wickets apiece for RCB whereas Yash Dayal picked two wickets. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Romario Shepherd took one wicket each for Rajat Patidar’s team.
Subsequently, RCB claimed a win with 60 balls to spare, which is the biggest winning margin in terms of balls remaining in IPL playoffs.
“The Royal Challengers Bengaluru have reached the final. They have not just reached the final, they have stormed into the final. Incredibly enough, it’s an interesting one, it’s been 15 years, if you see from 2011, since the playoffs started, the team that qualifies second always plays the final,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
“The team that finishes first might still miss, but the team that finishes second definitely plays. That’s guaranteed. Punjab were at No. 1, and RCB were at No. 2. So the only goal in my life is to come second. I don’t want to come first. RCB came as a storm and blew away Punjab’s chances,” he added.
On the other hand, Chopra showered praise on Rajat Patidar’s captaincy after he made the right bowling changes and came up with right field placements.
“Rajat Patidar’s return. I thought that was incredibly important as they were missing the captain. The captain came and made the bowling changes very well. Now you didn’t see Bhuvi with the old ball. You saw Bhuvi bowling with the new ball. He got Yash Dayal to bowl one over. Josh Hazlewood was used properly, and then he got Suyash Sharma,” he said.
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