Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) became the first team to reach the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, which is set to take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on June 3 (Tuesday). This is the first time that the team have qualified for the final since 2016. In that final they were defeated by the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) which was captained by David Warner. Now, Warner has predicted who could win the tournament this season. In fact, he has also named who could be the player of the match in the final and it is not Virat Kohli.

Replying to a fan's query on X as to who would win the IPL 2025, David Warner predicted that it was RCB who are his favourites to win their long-awaited first title. In fact, he predicted his ex-Australian teammate and star fast bowler Josh Hazlewood to win the Player of the Match in the final.

"I think RCB and Josh hazelwood man of the match," he wrote.

As a matter of fact, it was an Australian fast bowler who won the player of the match in the IPL 2024 final, with Mitchell Starc sealing the award for his match-winning spell for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against SRH.

Josh Hazlewood has been in superb form in the IPL 2025. He has taken 21 wickets in 11 games at an average of 15.80, and a strike rate of 11.40. He missed a few games due to a shoulder niggle, but returned in the Qualifer 1, were he was one of the pick of the bowlers against Punjab Kings taking three wickets.

PBKS finished 1st in the points table, and took on 2nd placed RCB in the Qualifer 1. They were defeated comprehensively by 8 wickets. This gave them another chance to qualify for the final as they were scheduled to face the eliminator between MI and Gujarat Titans.

In the Eliminator, MI won the match by 21 runs, and qualified for the Qualifer 2. The winner of the match between PBKS and MI will face RCB in the final.

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