Both teams faced each other twice this season, with each team winning one match against the other. The IPL has always seen closely fought contests between these two teams. In the 35 matches played between them so far, PBKS has won 18 while RCB has won 17. However, since 2023, RCB has won four out of the five matches played between the two teams.
With the absence of Mark Jansen, the additional burden of PBKS’s bowling attack will fall on Arshdeep Singh. He has taken the most wickets for PBKS this season, with 18. In IPL 2025, the pair of Virat Kohli and Phil Salt have scored a total of 517 runs together in 11 innings for RCB, thanks to six half-century partnerships. During this period, both batsmen scored at a strike rate of 176. However, Arshdeep could curb this aggressive pair.
On the other hand, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the third-highest wicket-taker for RCB this season. In Qualifier 1, the responsibility of dismissing Prabhsimran Singh and captain Shreyas Iyer, the strong pillars of PBKS’s batting, cheaply could fall on his shoulders. Bhuvneshwar has dismissed Prabhsimran three times in seven IPL innings, although Prabhsimran has scored 59 runs against him at a strike rate of 169 during this period.
