Stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma's unbeaten knock of 85 runs from 33 balls has helped the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by six runs in the final league game of IPL 2025 in Lucknow.
The Ekans stadium remained witness to two of the best knocks played in the IPL season so far. While Rishabh Pant's unbeaten century wrote his comeback script, the memories it was short-lived as RCB pulled off a record chase to finish in the top two.
RCB's win over LSG has now set up the IPL 2025 playoffs beautifully. RCB will now take on PBKS in the Qualifier 1 on May 29 in Mullanpur, followed by GT vs MI in the Eliminator on May 30 also in Mullanpur. In another major achievement, RCB won each of their seven away games this season. This happened for the first time in the IPL and RCB is the first team to do so.
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Jitesh Sharma's Unbeaten 85 Silences LSG
Chasing a mammoth 228 to win, RCB got the perfect start from Virat Kohli (54 runs off 30 balls) and Phil Salt (30 runs off 19 balls). The duo added 61 inside the powerplay to give the visitors a brilliant start in the chase.
RCB kept up with the asking rate and were going toe-to-toe as did LSG. Back to back wickets from William'0 Rourke saw RCB slide to 90 runs for three wickets in the eighth over. A 33-run stand brewed between Virat Kohli, who scored his eighth fifty of the season and Mayank Agarwal (41* runs off 23 balls). However, Avesh Khan broke the partnership as Kohli chipped one straight to long-on.
RCB required over 100 runs when Kohli was dismissed in the 12th over. Coming out to bat at six, RCB stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma had a task on his hands. He played without fear and took on the RCB bowlers. In the 17th over of the innings, He got a life due to a backfoot no-ball from Digvesh Rathi. He took full toll of his opportunity as he plundered the Lucknow bowlers to all parts of the ground and sized up the run-chase with 8 balls to spare. It was one of the rare occasions in this IPL season when a team won chasing over 220. PBKS did it against SRH earlier in the season. O'Rourke was the most expensive of the LSG bowlers as he went for 74 runs off his four overs.
Previously in the game, Rishabh Pant brought up his second IPL century in the final league match of the season. His celebrations explained the relief he felt as the celebration was more of a statement from the southpaw. Pant hit 11 fours and 8 sixes during his knock and scored at a strike rate of 193.
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IPL 2025 Playoffs - RCB To Face PBKS, MI Faces GT
The LSG vs RCB match concluded the league stage of IPL 2025, with the IPL 2025 playoffs sealed. As said earlier, both games will be played in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, with PBKS taking on RCB in Qualifier 1 and MI taking on GT in the second qualifier. Punjab and Bengaluru are chasing their first respective IPL title.
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