IPL 2025, LSG vs RCB Highlights: Jitesh Sharma books RCB's berth in qualifier 1 with masterful 85*(33) as captain

IPL 2025, LSG vs RCB Highlights: Lucknow Super Giants vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Just over two months on from when Royal Challengers Bengaluru started off the IPL 2025 regular season with a victory, they will try to sign it off with a win as well, as they travel to face Lucknow Super Giants with the chance to seal a top-two finish with a victory. It has been a long and gruelling journey for all 10 teams, but for RCB, one that has included a lot of reasons for positivity and hope that maybe, just maybe, this could be the year the men’s team ends the 18-year-long hoodoo without an IPL title....Read More

The key for them in their road in the playoffs will be to finish in the top two and earn two chances at qualifying for the finals, should they need it. The equation is simple, win the LSG vs RCB match today in the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, and leapfrog Gujarat Titans to finish second, or with a net-run-rate boost, even perhaps first ahead of Punjab Kings. The maths behind the necessity of winning is even greater: in 15 years of the eliminator-style playoffs for the IPL, only once has a team made it through the gauntlet of the eliminator to win three playoff games and lift the title. It’s a daunting task, and avoiding that fate remains in RCB’s hands.

So Rajat Patidar and his team know the stakes. It is just a matter of putting away Lucknow Super Giants, who have throughout this season presented a daunting challenge due to the power of their batting unit. LSG don’t have much left to play for except pride, and over the past week, teams such as them have shown how dangerous a proposition that can be for the teams already in the playoffs. LSG showed it by obliterating Gujarat, and RCB experienced it themselves as they were swept aside by SRH at this same venue a few days ago. With Mitchell Marsh coming off a tremendous century, Nicholas Pooran looking back in strong touch, and even Rishabh Pant connecting with a couple in a confidence-boosting cameo after a struggle of a season, LSG will want to play spoilsport, finish on an even 7-7 record, and consign their opponents to third place in the IPL table.

RCB won four games in a row before the IPL’s temporary suspension, but a wash-out and a loss after it came back means this team hasn’t won a game of cricket in 24 days. That’s a long period of time to go in such a tournament structure, and despite winning four games in a row then, this match will be essential for members of their team to find some form again. There are a couple of boosts for RCB: Josh Hazlewood returns, a big plus after he missed a handful of games, and they are gunning to be the first team to win all seven away matches in an IPL season. As history beckons, RCB will want to clinch it. It’s a big game to wrap up the IPL season: which team is more capable of providing the fireworks needed to win it?

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