Punjab Kings take on Mumbai Indians in Ahmedabad for an IPL 2025 final spot. The victor will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the grand final on Tuesday (June 3)
Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians battle it out tonight in the Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League 2025 in Ahmedabad for a spot in the final, where they face off against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Tuesday (June 3). Follow are the most important storylines.
History beckons
Mumbai Indians have won five IPL titles, and all of them arrived whenever they ended up as the top two teams in the league stage. They made it to the playoffs four other times by ending up third or fourth in the league stage. They never made it to the final on those four occasions. Will they end the jinx and reach their 7th IPL final? Conversely, Punjab Kings would prefer to stay out of one specific list. Delhi Capitals (2009, 2012, and 2021) and Gujarat Lions (2016) were the only two teams not to make it to the final after finishing top of the league stage.
Pitch in the spotlight
The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad hosted 5 night games in the league stage, and the toss-winning captain opted to bowl first on all five occasions. Guess what? The toss-winning team lost all five games. Mumbai Indians also have a terrible record in Ahmedabad.
IPL 2025, Qualifier 2: Shreyas vs Bumrah, Rohit vs Arshdeep and more; Key things to watch out for in PBKS vs MI clash
Night matches in Ahmedabad, IPL 2025
| Date | Toss | Bat 1st – Score | Bat 2nd – Score | Match result |
| March 25 | Bowl | PBKS – 243/5 | GT – 232/5 | PBKS won by 11 runs |
| March 29 | Bowl | GT – 196/8 | MI – 160/6 | GT won by 36 runs |
| Apr 9 | Bowl | GT – 217/6 | RR – 159 | GT won by 58 runs |
| May 2 | Bowl | GT – 224/6 | SRH – 186/6 | GT won by 38 runs |
| May 22 | Bowl | LSG – 235/2 | GT – 202/9 | LSG won by 33 runs |
Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya did break away from the norm and opted to bat first this season. Hardik notably did that against Gujarat Titans in the eliminator on Friday. It shouldn’t be a surprise if Shreyas or Hardik opts to bowl first.
Key battles
The most decisive moment of Qualifier 1 and Eliminator involved a Mumbai hero. Shreyas Iyer’s dismissal off Josh Hazlewood decisively tilted the game in favour of Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Qualifier 1 match. Rohit Sharma offered two easy chances to the Gujarat Titans fielders in the eliminator on Friday. He was dropped on 3 and 12 and duly punished the Titans by registering his highest-ever score in IPL playoffs, a superb 81 off 50 balls.
Shreyas will be up against Jasprit Bumrah, the best bowler of the tournament. Rohit will be facing Arshdeep Singh, the leading wicket-taker for India in T20Is. Shreyas’ experience is vital for the inexperienced batters around him. Dismissing Rohit at the earliest will help Punjab Kings to manage the run rate and add pressure on Suryakumar Yadav.
Head-to-head in T20s
| Batter | Bowler | Innings | Runs | SR | Dismissal |
| Shreyas Iyer | Jasprit Bumrah | 10 | 66 | 132 | 1 |
| Rohit Sharma | Arshdeep Singh | 6 | 28 | 122 | 1 |
Mr. Consistent and Mr. 360 holds the key
Audacious, flamboyant, and outrageous are some of the adjectives used to describe Suryakumar Yadav’s batting. The Indian T20 captain added a new word to the dictionary: consistency. 15 matches, 15 consecutive scores in excess of 25. Suryakumar Yadav will most certainly win the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award if he manages to hit five boundaries against Punjab Kings.
Return of Chahal and Chahar
Yuzvendra Chahal is likely to come back into the PBKS team after sitting out the previous three games. Deepak Chahar sat out the eliminator for MI, and he is still a doubtful starter for the match today as well. Debutant Richard Gleeson retired hurt after bowling three deliveries in the last over of the GT innings in the eliminator. If both of them are not fit, England’s Reece Topley could be the pick.