Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has weighed on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to have an upper hand in the Indian Premier League (IPL) final on Tuesday against Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Both RCB and Punjab Kings have dominated throughout the league stage, finishing in top two after the league stage.
RCB made it to their fourth IPL final after defeating Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1 on May 29. On the other hand, Punjab Kings got better of Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 to make it to their second IPL final.
Gavaskar, who is commenting in the IPL, pointed out that the long gap RCB had ahead of the IPL 2025 final might have a positive effect on the Rajat Patidar-led side. “It certainly does help,” Gavaskar was qupted as saying to India Today.
“And for the Punjab Kings, I think also the fact that they just get a day’s break before the final, and the match also finished so late against Mumbai Indians – that doesn’t give too much time for the body to recover,” added Gavaskar, the first man to reach 10000 Test runs.
While RCB got a four day break, for Punjab Kings, they got little time to recover after their Qualifier 2 win on June 1. The late finish due to rain delay in Ahmedabad in Qualifier 2 meant less recovery time for the Shreyas Iyer-led side.
“Yes, I know it’s a late evening game, it’s a 7:30 start, but the body certainly need a lot of rest after the exertions of the previous day. Punjab has, like I said, just 24 hours or so to recover, which is not enough after the efforts they put in to beat Mumbai Indians.
“The Bengaluru team has had four days off, so they will certainly be mentally and physically far more refreshed than the Punjab team when they enter the frame,” added Gavaskar.
RCB vs PBKS IPL head-to-head stats
RCB and Punjab Kings have won 18 matches each in IPL so far. As far as records at Narendra Modi Stadium in concerned, Punjab Kings had upper hand against RCB at the venue, having won in their only game played. However, since 2023, RCB have won five out of six games in IPL. It is also to be moted that RCB haven’t played in Ahmedabad as compared to Punjab King’s two game which they won.
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