IPL 2025: Shreyas's strong batting, Punjab vs Bangalore in the final; A new IPL champion will be found in the 18th season..

Thanks to captain Shreyas Iyer's unbeaten half-century, Punjab Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by five wickets in the Qualifier-2 match and made it to the final of IPL 2025. Mumbai, batting first, scored 203 runs for six wickets in 20 overs, in response, Punjab won by scoring 207 runs for five wickets in 19 overs with the help of Shreyas's strong half-century innings.

A new champion will be found on June 3
Punjab Kings have entered the final for the first time since 2014. Now they will face Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on June 3 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. RCB made it to the final by defeating Punjab in the Qualifier-1 match. The journey of five-time champion Mumbai ended in Qualifier 2. The team defeated Gujarat in the Eliminator, but the Hardik Pandya-led team could not cross the hurdle of Qualifier-2. Punjab and RCB have never won the IPL trophy so far, so it is certain that now the tournament will get a new champion.

Shreyas Iyer led the team to victory.

Chasing the target, Punjab Kings did not have a good start and the team lost three wickets for just 72 runs. After this, Shreyas and Nehal Wadhera played a partnership and added 84 runs for the fourth wicket. Shreyas completed his half-century in 27 balls during this period. The partnership between Shreyas and Wadhera was broken by Ashwini Kumar by dismissing Wadhera who was dismissed after scoring 48 runs. However, Shreyas stayed at the crease and gave the team victory by hitting a six off the last ball of the 19th over. Shreyas remained unbeaten on 87 runs off 41 balls with the help of five fours and eight sixes.

For Punjab Kings, Priyansh Arya scored 20, Josh Inglis scored 38 and Prabhsimran Singh scored six runs. Shashank Singh was out after scoring two runs, while Stoinis remained unbeaten after scoring two runs. For Mumbai, Ashwini Kumar got two wickets, while Trent Boult and Hardik Pandya got one wicket each.

Suryakumar and Tilak rocked.

For Mumbai, Jonny Bairstow (38), Tilak Verma (44), and Suryakumar (44) laid the foundation for a big score. Naman Dheer also scored 33 runs in 18 balls to take the team past 200 runs. Rohit Sharma (eight) could not take advantage of the lifeline he got in the last match. In the third over, Azmatullah Umarzai dropped his difficult catch off Kyle Jamieson. However, in the next over, Rohit got caught by Visakh Vijaykumar at deep square leg off Marcus Stoinis while trying to play his favorite pool shot.

Undeterred by the initial setback, Mumbai continued to score at the rate of ten runs per over. Tilak hit a six on the second ball while Bairstow was also playing very aggressively from the other end. Both of them made a partnership of 51 runs for the second wicket.

Mumbai scored 65 runs for one wicket in six overs in the powerplay. Bairstow scored 15 runs in the sixth over by hitting many excellent strokes against Umarzai. But he got caught by wicketkeeper Josh Inglis on Vijay Kumar's ball in the next over. As soon as Suryakumar came, Punjab handed the ball to spinner Yuzvendra Chahal but Chahal was able to take a wicket only in his last over. Suryakumar scored 44 runs in 26 balls which included four fours and three sixes. He returned after getting caught by Nehal Wadhera at deep midwicket in an attempt to play on the front foot on the fifth ball of Chahal's last over. He added 72 runs for the third wicket with Tilak.

Two balls later, Tilak also returned to the pavilion who scored 44 runs in 29 balls hitting two sixes and two fours. He returned after being caught by Priyansh Arya at mid-off on the ball of Kyle Jamieson. Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya scored 15 runs in 12 balls.

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