‘They have this in the bag’ – Ashwin backs RCB ahead of IPL 2025 final

The Indian veteran Ravichandran Ashwin believes Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) would lift the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 trophy. RCB will be playing their fourth IPL final, where they will take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Tuesday, June 3 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.

The former Indian spinner reckons that the Rajat Patidar-led team will be the favourites to touch the prestigious IPL trophy. The Bengaluru-based franchise moved into the IPL 2025 final after defeating PBKS in the Qualifier 1 at Mullanpur. But, the Shreyas Iyer-led team came back strong against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad on Sunday night.

“I can’t help but feel that RCB has this in the bag. Look at what has happened. Look at their momentum and tempo, I am a complete cricket buff. But I cannot help but look at science, as cricketers, you also get superstitious. You have to run after the trend,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat’.

“If you look at what has happened, every team that has gone against has eventually turned into a favour for them,” he added.

The Motera is likely to witness the bulk of spectators supporting RCB and Indian legend Virat Kohli. The spectators have started to fill the stadium several hours before the summit clash and the environment was filled with chants of ‘RCB RCB’ and ‘Kohli Kohli’.

Hazlewood will be the key: Ashwin

The off-spinner Ashwin also felt that Australian speedster Josh Hazlewood will hold the key for RCB’s victory. The right-arm pacer is in tremendous form, scalping 21 wickets and is fourth in the Purple Cap race.

The IPL 2025 resumed after a week-long break in May, and everyone felt that RCB had lost touch after they lost against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). However, they bounced back against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to book their position in the top two.

“First, people were saying RCB’s momentum was broken because of the 20-day break. They lost against SunRisers Hyderabad. Look at how they bounced back in the LSG game. Jitesh Sharma scoring those runs was a massive momentum shift,” said Ashwin.

“Hazlewood was waiting. RCB were bleeding runs when he was sitting out. I kind of feel the tide of luck is running with RCB,” he concluded.