Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Lucknow Super Giats: The playoff race is becoming quite interesting, Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals have been out of the playoff race. Kolkata Knight Riders suffered defeat against Chennai in yesterday’s match. Therefore, Kolkata’s playoff expectations are almost over. The 59th match of IPL 2025 will be played between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday. While Royal Challengers Bangalore, who are running in excellent form, would like to win this match and confirm their place in the playoffs, Lucknow Super Giants would like to return their constant defeat and return to the path of victory.
As the tournament is moving forward, the pressure on Lucknow captain Rishabh Pant is also increasing. He has been struggling to score runs since the beginning of the tournament and its effect is clearly visible in the results. Lucknow has lost four of their last five matches and will get only 16 points for winning the remaining three matches. In the play-off race, 18 points are considered to be a safe number and RCB would like to leave no stone unturned to win here and reach there. RCB has made himself a strong contender to make a place in the playoffs by winning five of its last six matches.
This season has been very disappointing for Pant, he was the most expensive player in the IPL auction. He tried to bat in various places in batting order but it was not effective for him and he could not achieve continuity. His strike rate of 99.92 describes his struggle this season. The Lucknow team is very much dependent on their top three batsmen – Mitchell Marsh, Aiden Markram and Nicholas Puran – but if they want to move forward in the tournament, then their other players will also have to do well.
Pant said after the defeat to Punjab Kings in Dharamshala, “We have not left hope of reaching the playoffs yet. If we win the next three matches, we can reach there. When your top order is really batting well, it makes sense. You can’t expect a good performance in every match.”
