According to Shane Watson, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) could make it until the end of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. In the IPL final, the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder also picked Virat Kohli to win Player of the Match.
At the conclusion of the league phase, RCB came in second on the points table.
Nine games were won, four were lost, and one was rained out. In the final league game, Rajat Patidar and company defeated the Lucknow Super Giants with a thrilling victory, chasing down their biggest IPL target of 228 runs. The team from Bengaluru will now play the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1 on Thursday, May 29 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur.
One of RCB’s best players this season has been Josh Hazlewood. In 10 games, he has taken 18 wickets at an average of 17.28. Due to injuries, the Australian pacer missed the final five games, and RCB gave up more than 200 runs in each of those games. He is anticipated to rejoin the team against PBKS, though, and Watson believes that this would give RCB the advantage.
“Royal Challengers Bengaluru is the IPL 2025 champion, and I’ve given it a lot of thought. And the brilliant Virat Kohli is, in my opinion, the Man of the Match. And this is the explanation. It seems to me that RCB is ready for this moment. Watson stated in a video posted on his ‘X’ handle, “They have had a few setbacks in the latter stages of the tournament, but with Josh Hazlewood returning for the Playoffs, I get a feeling this is the year.”
It really has been another incredible season of @IPL 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
The playoffs are truly going to be epic!! 💥💥
Here are my predictions for who I think is going to win IPL18.
Make your predictions on Wolf777 now.#watson #wolf777 #wolf777exchange #cricket #ipl18 #playoffs… pic.twitter.com/2faVKyI7jW— Shane Watson (@ShaneRWatson33) May 28, 2025
In the past two games, Jitesh Sharma has led RCB, with usual captain Rajat Patidar serving as the Impact Player. Whether Patidar, who is recuperating from a finger injury on his right hand, makes a comeback to the starting lineup and captains RCB on Thursday will be intriguing to watch.
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