IPL 2025: RCB to clash against SRH, eyes top 2 spot in playoffs

It’s a battle within the battle. The four teams that have qualified for the IPL Playoffs are now involved in an intense contest to finish in the Top 2 of the points table, which ensures two opportunities to make it to the final.

Three-time runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore, who are seeking an elusive IPL crown, feel it’s their best chance this time around. As they prepare to take on the already-eliminated Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday in a league match that was shifted from Bengaluru to Lucknow due to the rain threat, RCB will be glad to play away from home as they have won only two of their six matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. On the contrary, they have triumphed in all six away ties, and if they manage to defeat Lucknow Super Giants here on May 27 in their last match of the league phase, they will hold the unique feat of winning all away games in a single IPL season. 

Pat Cummins

Rain threat looms again

There was much disappointment among Virat Kohli fans in Lucknow when the May 9 game between RCB and LSG was suspended due to border tension between India and Pakistan. But as luck would have it, they will now get the opportunity to see him play twice in a matter of days. However, fans will be praying for clear weather on Friday, as dark clouds have been hovering over Lucknow for the past two days. RCB’s last game was already washed out in Bengaluru on Saturday and they will not want another abandoned tie as they push for a Top-2 finish. 

The two games in Lucknow give RCB the perfect platform to tune up for the Playoffs that begin in New Chandigarh on May 29, as they’ve not had a game for three weeks. Their last match was against Chennai Super Kings in Bengaluru on May 3, before the IPL was suspended briefly. After the long layoff, Kohli & Co will look to use this opportunity to get into the groove before proceeding to the Playoffs. 

All set to play spoilers

Meanwhile, though SRH are out of the fray, they cannot be taken lightly. Having chased down a 206-run target with consummate ease in their previous game here against LSG on Monday, they will be brimming with confidence to win their remaining two games (the last being against KKR on Sunday in Delhi) and finish a rather disappointing season on a high. 

Head-to-head, there is not much difference between the two teams as SRH have won 13 times and RCB 11, with one no result in the 25 matches the two have played in IPL history.

This article first appeared on Mid Day