Nehal Wadhera recounts what cost Punjab Kings the IPL 2025 final versus RCB: “I totally blame myself”

A week after Punjab Kings (PBKS) suffered a heartbreaking loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL 2025 final, Nehal Wadhera took responsibility for his team’s failure.

Wadhera had an outstanding season, scoring 369 runs with a strike-rate of 145.85 and an average of 30.75 from 16 games. Throughout the campaign, the Southpaw recorded two half-centuries and shown his ability to perform well under duress. In Qualifier 2, PBKS defeated the five-time champion Mumbai Indians by chasing down a 204-run goal in Ahmedabad thanks to a game-winning partnership of Nehal Wadhera and captain Shreyas Iyer that lasted 84 runs off 47 balls.

When PBKS was chasing a target of 191 runs at the same location in the top battle, Nehal Wadhera was unable to duplicate his exploits. The Punjab batsman was eventually out for 15 off 18 balls after failing to find his timing. PBKS was denied their IPL victory as Shashank Singh’s late blitzkrieg cut the deficit to just six runs.

Wadhera expressed his desire to play hard but lamented his inability to accelerate throughout the crucial match.

“I am solely to blame. We could have won without a doubt if I had performed better at the moment. Given that RCB scored 190 runs, I won’t hold the pitch responsible. I guess I was simply taking the game seriously, and I think that’s how games should be finished. I believe that I was unable to complete the game on this particular day. With the exception of the final game, I believe that anytime I accelerated during the tournaments where I had to do so, Nehal Wadhera stated, as cited by HT.

“On certain days, it doesn’t click, and I believe that day was the one when it didn’t. Although I don’t regret taking my time in the game and the wickets falling, I believe I could have accelerated a bit more, which I have since studied and examined,” he continued.

His attitude and behaviour off the pitch are mirrored in the game: Nehal Wadhera

The 24-year-old lavished accolades on his captain, Shreyas, for his wise leadership in leading PBKS to their first final in 11 years. Additionally, the Mumbai batter placed sixth in the tournament’s run totals.

“The way he behaves off the pitch, his attitude is reflected in the game and I think a good captain, his attitude, the way he speaks, the way he handles people, if he is good, he is automatically a good leader and I think he is a perfect example for that,” Nehal Wadhera stated.