The Final Is Getting Closer: IPL 2025 Playoff Preview and Favorites to Reach the Final

The Final Is Getting Closer: IPL 2025 Playoff Preview and Favorites to Reach the Final (Image Source: Google)

This is it. The Indian Premier League 2025 season is reaching its dramatic conclusion. We’re into the playoff stages, where the four top-performing teams will duke it out for the ultimate glory: the title of IPL Champions. Four thrilling matches make up this playoff phase, but only one team will emerge victorious. 

Cricket fans all over India and beyond will be tuning in. Gambling fans and gamers, too, will be turning their attention from other betting markets and games – like 1Win Aviator – in order to put their sole focus on the IPL playoffs action. But, if you’re gambling or want to predict which team will win it all, who should you choose? Let’s take a closer look and find out.

The State of Play as We Approach the IPL Final 2025

We’ll dig into details and predictions shortly. First though, let’s take a moment to look at how the playoffs have shaped up – who’s involved and which matchups are we going to see. 

• Four teams have made it to the playoffs:
• Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
• Punjab Kings (PBKS)
• Gujarat Titans (GT)
• Mumbai Indians (MI)

We saw a total of four games:

Punjab Kings vs. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (PBKS vs RCB) on 29 May in Mullanpur (Qualifier 1) – Royal Challengers Bengaluru secured a dominant eight-wicket victory over Punjab Kings.

Gujarat Titans vs. Mumbai Indians (GT vs MI), on 30 May in Mullanpur (Eliminator) – Mumbai Indians triumphed over Gujarat Titans by 20 runs in the eliminator match.

The Loser of Qualifier 1 vs. Winner of the Eliminator on 1 June in Ahmedabad (Qualifier 2) – The winner of this goes into the final, while the loser is out. PBKS played against MI.

Winner of Qualifier 1 vs. Winner of Qualifier 2 on 3 June in Ahmedabad (Final) – The winner of this will be the IPL Champs for 2025. The final match will be between the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). 

A Look Back at the IPL Points Table

To get a better idea of which of these four teams are most likely to succeed in the playoffs, it’s worth looking back at the IPL 2025 Pints table to see how the main season ended up.

1st: After 14 matches played for each team, the Punjab Kings topped the table with nine wins, four losses, and one match abandoned, plus a net run rate of 0.372.

2nd: In second place, we have the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who also got nine wins, albeit with a lower net run rate of 0.301, and four losses, with one abandon. 

From these rankings, we can say that the Punjab Kings are arguably the clear favorites for the title, as they were the top-ranked team over the course of the season. 

Match-by-Match Predictions

Next, let’s dig into the individual matches and see who are the favorites and what we can expect from each clash.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Punjab Kings (RCB vs. PBKS)

The first game, Qualifier 1, was a big one. 

So, who is the favorite? Well, if we look at the betting odds, there was actually no clear favorite in this game. Both sides had identical odds going into it, suggesting that both were equally capable of claiming a win. Many cricket experts, fans, and pundits agreed with that assessment, with nobody able to confidently say that one side has a major edge over the other.

Because of that, we could have expected a really close game here.

Let's look back at the last two meetings between the teams and see how they ended:

On April 18, 2025, PBKS won by five wickets, with a score of 98-5 after 12.1 overs, with RCB only making 95-9 after 14 overs.

On April 20, 2025, RCB took a seven-wicket win, scoring 159-3 after 18.5 overs, with PBKS seeing out all 20 overs in the first innings and scoring 157-6.

This shows that both sides were capable of beating each other but the match ended with RCB winning by 8 wickets, with Suyash Sharma being the player of the match. 

Gujarat Titans vs. Mumbai Indians Match Scorecard (GT vs. MI)

The Eliminator match is very different from Qualifier 1, as there was a clear favorite. Bookmakers agree that Mumbai Indians are the favorites in this particular match, and they are absolutely right! And some are giving them significantly higher odds than GT.

This is largely due to the fact that MI has so many stars in the lineup. Trent Boult, Jasprit Bamra, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadar, Ryan Rickleton, Rohit Sharma - it's a truly stellar lineup. GT has enough stars of their own too, but MI's overall chemistry and form has given them a huge advantage.

Let’s now look back at the Gujarat Titans vs. Mumbai Indians timeline to get more of a feel for how these teams compare:

On 29 March, 2025, GT took a 36-run win, putting up 196-8 after 20 overs. MI could only score 160-6.

On 6 May, 2025, GT took another win, this time via the DLS method, as they had scored 147-7 after 19 overs, while MI had managed 155-8, and rain interrupted play.

On 30 May, 2025, MI won by 20 runs.

Predicting the champions of the IPL finals: What are the chances of RCB and PBKS?

Next, a look at each team, in turn, to see how likely they are to win the entire playoffs and end the season in glory.

The Punjab Kings

The Punjab Kings are now leading with the score of 0.372.

Over the course of the season, PBKS have often been able to massively outscore their opponents. They did it against the likes of LSG, CSK, KKR, GT, and others. This is down to the batting talents of players like Shreyas Iyer and Priyansh Arya.

In the bowling department, too, the team is strong, with Arshdeep Singh one of the top wicket takers in the IPL, backed by the likes of Marco Jansen. This is a great team overall, but it will need to be at its best to secure the initial win against RCB and push on for a place in history.

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru

With most bookmakers, RCB is the team to beat. They have the best odds of lifting the title, and it’s not hard to see why. They topped the table, and you can look back over their performances across the season, like RCB vs LSG and MI vs. RCB to see many examples of their prowess.

The team’s most recent match (LSG vs RCB) shows what they’re all about. If we look at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs. Lucknow Super Giants match scorecard, we see that man – Virat Kohli – putting up a fine score of 51, with the likes of Salt, Agarwal, and Sharma also scoring strongly.

And it’s been a similar story over the season. RCB can always count on Kohli to put up lots of runs, backed by numerous other excellent batters in the team. The bowling isn’t always as strong, but in Pandya and Kumar, RCB have definite wicket-taking potential. Now they are the second-favorites for the title.

All Eyes on the Final: PBKS vs RCB Set for an Epic Showdown

After a dramatic and fiercely competitive playoff run, the stage is set for the grand finale of IPL 2025. The Punjab Kings have earned their place in the final after a thrilling five-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2, with Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 87 leading the charge. They will now face the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who earlier swept aside PBKS in Qualifier 1 to punch their ticket straight to the final. 

Both teams are chasing their first-ever IPL title, and with superstar players on both sides and red-hot form behind them, the 2025 IPL Final promises to be a historic clash. With the final taking place on 3 June in Ahmedabad, fans can expect fireworks as two of the league's most exciting squads battle it out for the ultimate crown. Don’t miss it – this could be a finale for the ages.