Follow UsJitesh Sharma played the best knock of his Indian Premier League (IPL) career and helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finish in the top two of the IPL 2025 points table, which will give them two cracks of making it to the final. The wicketkeeper-batter smoked 85* off 33 deliveries and helped RCB chase down a target of 228 against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on May 28 (Tuesday).
“I can't express my thoughts. I was thinking about just staying in the present. When Virat got out I thought of taking the game deep and that is what my mentor (Dinesh Karthik) tells me that the kind of calibre I have I can finish the game from any situation,” said Jitesh, who is also captaining RCB with Rajat Patidar only playing as an Impact Player because of a finger injury.
“This is a very big franchise, and I am enjoying the pressure and when I see these players, I feel excited that I am getting to play with these players. We will enjoy this moment and whatever momentum we got in this game, we will take it forward (into the next game). Credit goes to Rajat for giving me this responsibility (maintaining the excellent record of winning away from home this season).
The Super Giants finished the season with eight defeats, but Rishabh Pant returned to form ahead of the five-match Test series against England. The wicketkeeper-batter, who was averaging 13.73 and striking at 107.1 before this game, slammed his second IPL ton (118* off 61). The left-hander hit 11 fours and eight maximums and looked at his absolute best.
“I was feeling well with each and every match but sometimes it just doesn't come off. Today I made sure that if I am starting well I should make a big one. Like all the experienced players do, learning from the best always. Whenever you get a start, try to make it big as possible. I was trying to play the field, how they were going to bowl, that was something I kept in mind. Playing through the line and looking for the areas and the gaps and kept it very simple. Played every ball with the same intensity and kept on playing with the same intensity throughout the innings,” said Pant.
Talking about the entire season, Pant added, “There'll be a lot of areas where we'll be talking and looking to improve ourselves but the season is just ending, don't know where the talk is going to go. Just want to switch off for a few days, not think about cricket and then the England series is coming up and just preparing for that in a good frame of mind.”
RCB will now take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1 on May 29, while Gujarat Titans (GT) and Mumbai Indians (MI) will play the Eliminator on May 30.