The much-awaited final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru is underway at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and bowled first. However, looking at the history of IPL finals, since 2008, the team batting first has won on nine occasions while the side chasing has emerged victorious on eight occasions.
Notably, the last time a team batting first won the final of the IPL was in 2021, and it was the Chennai Super Kings who did it, beating Kolkata Knight Riders. In the last three editions, teams bowling first in the final have lifted the trophy. This makes it clear that RCB will have to defy history to lift the trophy for the first time.
As far as the numbers are concerned, the highest score batting first in the IPL final is 214, by the Gujarat Titans in 2023 against CSK. However, they ended up losing the clash as the target was reduced and CSK chased down 171 runs in just 15 overs.
Interestingly, the highest score chased down in the IPL final is 200 back in 2014 by KKR against Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab) when Wriddhiman Saha had smashed a brilliant century, scoring 115 runs off 55 balls.
RCB lost their previous three IPL finals while chasing, and it is a blessing in disguise for them that they are batting first this time around. As for PBKS, they lost their only IPL final after batting first in 2014. Moreover, they are coming into this game after chasing down 204 runs against five-time champions Mumbai Indians.
Playing XIs
RCB - Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarawal, Rajat Patidar (c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood
PBKS - Priyansh Arya, Josh Inglis (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Kyle Jamieson, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal