Follow UsThe Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), after finishing second in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 league points table, will take on the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1 of the league on May 29 (Thursday) at the Maharaja Yadvinder Singh International Stadium in Mullanpur, Punjab.
While RCB won a thriller at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), their playing 11 is riddled with bowling problems, especially with the team leaking more than 200 runs in their last three outings.
In the batting department, they might have faced problems with Tim David getting injured. However, Jitesh Sharma’s return to form and Mayank Agarwal playing sensibly meant that they are more than good enough as a batting unit.
Thus, their playing 11, in what could be considered as one of the biggest games in their history, where they would look to enter their fourth ever IPL final, could see a change on the bowling front.
Yash Dayal, who has been wicketless in the last two games and has picked wickets in only three out of the last six games he has played, could give way to Josh Hazlewood.
But to compensate for an extra overseas player in the playing 11, RCB could then slot in an Indian batter in place of Liam Livingstone in the side, as his services as a bowler has not been used anyway and his batting has been dismal.
However, to imagine this sort of chopping and changing would be too much at the business end of the tournament, and Dayal and Livingstone would still stay in the playing 11 with Hazlewood replacing Nuwan Thushara.
Rajat Patidar would most likely continue to play as an impact player and not risk his fitness with one more chance available for his team to get to the final.
Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarawal, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (c & wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Nuwan Thushara/ Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma
Impact Player- Rajat Patidar