Following their stupendous win against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finished second in the points table and will now play Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With 9 wins in 14 matches, RCB ended the group league stage of IPL 2025 with 19 points, same as PBKS, but settled for the second spot owing to an inferior net run-rate.

While Kohli remained the nucleus of the team, having ended the group stages with 602 runs at a strike rate of 147.91, as many as seven players, other than Virat, who stood up and came to the party on eight different occasions for RCB this season. Krunal Pandya and regular captain Rajat Patidar won the Player of the Match award twice this season, while Philip Salt, Kohli, Josh Hazlewood, Romario Shepherd, and stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma joined the honours list, each delivering match-winning performances that added to RCB’s remarkable run. Tim David earned the Player of the Match award against PBKS, but it ended in a losing cause.

Together, they embodied a team built not on the shoulders of one, but on the strength of many.

Kohli remains the highest run-getter for RCB this season, and currently finds himself fifth in the race to claim the orange cap, while Josh Hazlewood, with 18 wickets at a strike rate of 12.27 and an economy rate of 8.44, finds himself fourth in the overall list of highest wicket-takers this season. He is just behind Noor Ahmad (24), Prasidh Krishna (23), and Trent Boult (19) in the purple cap race.

Player	Match	Venue	Result
Krunal Pandya	KKR	Eden Gardens	Won
Rajat Patidar	CSK	MA.Chidambaram Stadium	Won
Rajat Patidar	MI	Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai	Won
Philip Salt	RR	Sawai Mansingh Stadium	Won
Tim David	PBKS	M.Chinnaswamy Stadium	Lost
Virat Kohli	PBKS	Mullanpur	Won
Josh Hazlewood	RR	M.Chinnaswamy Stadium	Won
Krunal Pandya	DC	Arun Jaitley Stadium	Won
Romario Shepherd	CSK	M.Chinnaswamy Stadium	Won
Jitesh Sharma	LSG	Ekana Cricket Stadium	Won

A win for RCB against PBKS in Qualifier 1 will take them through to the final, while a loss will give them another opportunity to have a crack for a spot in the final in Qualifier 2, which will be played against the winner of the Eliminator. If RCB manages to qualify for the final, it will be the first time since 2016 that they will have a clear shot at the coveted trophy. Remember, that's perhaps the only thing that Kohli doesn't have in his cabinet in white-ball cricket.

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