RCB storm into IPL 2025 final after Salt, bowlers star in 8-wicket thrashing of PBKS in Qualifier 1

Phil Salt smashed a 23-ball fifty while Suyash Sharma (3/17) and Josh Hazlewood (3/21) collected three wickets each as Royal Challengers Bengaluru thrashed Punjab Kings by 8 wickets in Qualifier 1 in Mullanpur on Thursday to storm into the final of the 2025 Indian Premier League.

Suyash and Hazlewood headlined a clinical bowling performance by the Royal Challengers after skipper Rajat Patidar opted to field as the Kings crumbled under sustained pressure, with their strange shot selection not helping either, to get bundled out for a paltry 101.

Full scenes guru. 😍

pic.twitter.com/E1R77UPBfa

— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 29, 2025

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PBKS briefly looked like they could pull off an encore of their dramatic 16-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders last month, in which they collected a thrilling 16-run victory despite getting bundled out for 111, after Kyle Jamieson removed Virat Kohli (12) in a wicket-maiden.

Salt, however, quickly snuffed out whatever little hopes Iyer and Co had of pulling off an unlikely win as he shifted gears after Kohli’s dismissal and helped RCB race to 61/1 at the end of the powerplay, at which point it was their game to lose.

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The home team batters found it difficult to hit through the line but it seemed Salt was batting on a different surface, collecting boundaries for fun.

He ended up smashing six fours and three sixes including a crisp pull off pacer Arshdeep Singh.

The match ended prematurely when RCB skipper Patidar slog swept Musheer Khan for a maximum. Punjab Kings were blown away by RCB but Jamieson got the home crowd going for a brief period by bowling a stellar wicket maiden that included the wicket of Kohli.

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙨 ❤

🎥 Captain Rajat Patidar fittingly finishes off in style as #RCB are just one step away from the 🏆

Updates ▶ https://t.co/FhocIrg42l#PBKSvRCB | #Qualifier1 | #TheLastMile | @RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/hXhslIqcDZ

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 29, 2025

Number three Mayank Agarwal was left clueless in the same over with Jamieson getting the ball to swing away.

“We need to go back to the drawing board. We have lost the battle but not the war,” said Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer after a rather heavy loss.

RCB bowlers blow PBKS away in Mullanpur

Earlier, the all-out attack strategy of the Punjab Kings contributed to their downfall after they were put in to bat. Their innings lasted just 14.1 overs. The RCB pace trio of Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/17) and Yash Dayal (2/26) exploited the conditions well before leg-spinner Suyash made it worse for the opposition.

Punjab Kings’ steep slide began when in-form opener Priyansh Arya was caught at cover off Dayal as he couldn’t check his drive. His opening partner Prabhsimran Singh (18 off 10) followed him back into the dugout in the following over from Bhuvneshwar.

Having collected two straight boundaries on the charge, Prabhimsran stepped out for a third swipe but Bhuvneshwar pulled his length back to induced the edge. Captain Iyer, who has been central to the team’s success this season, went for a wild slog off Hazlewood on his third ball of the innings but was caught behind.

Welcome back, #JoshHazlewood! ❤️👏🏻#RCB’s strike bowler bags the prized scalp of #ShreyasIyer in his very first over, extending his dominance in this classic matchup! 🔥

LIVE NOW ➡ https://t.co/B4bnHnppgJ #IPLPlayoffs Qualifier 1 👉 #PBKSvRCB on Star Sports Network &… pic.twitter.com/G2mYI4ZFhp

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) May 29, 2025

The Australian pacer then sent back his country man Josh Inglis off a rising ball that the former could not control, creating a sense of panic in the dressing room. The batters continued to go for their shots to hasten Punjab Kings’s slide. Against leggie Suyash, the likes of Marcus Stoinis (26 off 17) and Shashank Singh went for the slog sweep but could not connect to the googly.

Musheer Khan, making an unexpected IPL debut as an Impact Player with wickets falling in heap, too fell to a sweep off Suyash, who got his googly to turn sharply.

Having put up a poor effort with the bat, Punjab Kings would take some confidence from their league stage outing against KKR when they defended 111 on a challenging surface here.

With PTI inputs