Jitesh Sharma’s Blistering 85 Helps RCB Secure the All-Important Top Two Finish

Royal Challengers Bangalore finally secured a top-two finish in the group stage of IPL 2025. Stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma played a sensational knock of an unbeaten 85 with a strike rate of 258 to pull off the third-highest chase in IPL history. LSG posted a mammoth 228-run target, thanks to a brilliant century by skipper Rishabh Pant. In response, RCB completed the chase with eight balls remaining.

Toss and Team News

Jitesh Sharma, the stand-in skipper, won the toss and chose to bowl first. RCB made two changes, bringing in Livingstone and Thushara. Pant said they would play aggressive cricket and made two changes as well.

LSG Playing XI: 1. Mitchell Marsh, 2. Nicholas Pooran, 3. Rishabh Pant (wk, capt), 4. Matthew Breetzke, 5. Ayush Badoni, 6. Abdul Samad, 7. Himmat Singh, 8. Shahbaz Ahmed, 9. Digvesh Rathi, 10. Avesh Khan, 11. William O'Rourke
Impact Subs: Yuvraj Chaudhary, Arshin Kulkarni, Akash Singh, Prince Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi

RCB Playing XI: 1. Phil Salt, 2. Virat Kohli, 3. Mayank Agarwal, 4. Liam Livingstone, 5. Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6. Romario Shepherd, 7. Krunal Pandya, 8. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9. Yash Dayal, 10. Nuwan Thushara, 11. Suyash Sharma
Impact Subs: Tim Seifert, Swapnil Singh, Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage

Pant Shows Up in the Final Game of the Season

Pant’s performance had long fallen short of expectations after being the most expensive player in the 2024 Mega Auction. He was yet to score a half-century in the entire tournament, and his team had failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Today, however, we saw the version of Pant we all fell in love with—no sneaky or risky shots, just pure timing and power. He played a scintillating knock of an unbeaten 118, featuring 11 fours and 8 sixes.

RCB made an unusual and poor decision by not bowling Bhuvneshwar until the 5th over, despite the swing Thushara was enjoying. Thushara bowled a lovely yorker that took late swing and shattered the off stump of debutant Breetzke. But by the time Bhuvneshwar came on to bowl, the swing had disappeared, and Pant had already started dominating.

Marsh, fresh off a century, was phenomenal as well. He took his time, as usual, before unleashing his full power. He scored 67 off 37 and formed a 152-run partnership with Pant to lead his side to a big total. At one point, they were eyeing 240+, but a couple of wickets and some good death bowling limited them to 227.

Jitesh Goes Berserk After Kohli-Salt Partnership

The partnership between Salt and Kohli is quickly becoming one of the tournament’s best opening pairs. They have been consistently providing fantastic starts for RCB. Salt scored a boundary off the first delivery of the innings, while Kohli played a beautiful pull shot on the last ball of the first over. In the next over, they took O’Rourke to the cleaners, scoring 18 runs. They brought up the first 50 runs in just four overs, providing yet another perfect start.

Salt was dismissed by Akash Singh in the last over of the powerplay, but Kohli continued. He first formed a partnership with Patidar, then with Agarwal, and brought up his half-century in just 27 balls. O’Rourke’s return tilted the game slightly in LSG’s favor as he removed Patidar and then dismissed Livingstone on the first delivery for a golden duck. Kohli fell soon after, leaving RCB at 123 for 4 in the 12th over.

Things looked difficult for RCB as they needed 105 from 8.4 overs with almost half the side gone.

Jitesh Sharma came in to join Mayank in the middle, and fans expected a calm, composed innings from the skipper to ensure Shepherd had a manageable target to chase. However, Jitesh had other plans. He went on a boundary-hitting spree, trying to knock every ball out of the park. He scored 85 off just 33 deliveries, hitting 8 fours and 6 sixes. His innings was so phenomenal that Mayank’s impressive 41 barely got a mention.

RCB chased the target in 18.4 overs with 6 wickets remaining. LSG would be disappointed with their bowling and fielding, having conceded too many boundaries through poor deliveries and misfielding. They even dismissed Jitesh Sharma in the 18th over, but it was a no-ball, giving him a second chance to complete his fifty with a six and lead his team into Qualifier 1.

Man of the Match

Jitesh Sharma played a true captain’s knock and deservedly won the Man of the Match award.