Weekly CRICKET Review - XCIV | PSL Finals & IPL Playoffs
Hello, fellow Cricket Enthusiasts,
You already know I am sharing a weekly wrap-up of what is happening within the Cricket community. It's the 92nd edition now. After the conclusion of the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, India became the champions. Guess what's going on now! It's the IPL season!
In the last few weeks, I shared a small overview about 2025 IPL, and a small update of the tournament. So, let's see what is happening there.
Lahore Qalandars won the PSL Finals
Well, we watched some dramatic scenes at the Pakistan Super League 2025 finals, where Kusal Perera and Sikandar Raza led Lahore Qalandars to a historic win against Quetta Gladiators.
After 30 Group stage matches, Quetta Gladiators, Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, and Lahore Qalandars advanced to the playoffs. As table toppers, when Gladiators moved to the finals directly from Qualifier 1, Qalandars crawled through, winning both the Eliminator and Qualifier 2.
The final match was held at Lahore on May 25, 2025. Gladiators started the batting and didn't have the perfect start. They lost the openers inside the first three overs. But the latter, led by Hasan Nawaz and Faheem Ashraf, did their part well and posted a total of 201/9.
- The chase was on! Mohammad Naeem and Abdullah Shafique started the thing well, with 56/1 in the powerplay. From there, Kusal Perera took the load and carried the innings with an incredible half-century.
Qalandars needed 47 off the final three overs to chase the highest score in any T20I Finals. With a little cameo at the end from Raza, they did it with one ball and 6 wickets remaining. Kusal Perera was the player of the match, and Hasan Nawaz became the player of the series.
IPL Playoffs
- Well, 70 matches of the Group stage have been finished, and who thought this type of setup for the Playoffs? This is so unpredictable, but four truly deserving teams have emerged from the rest.
Well, Panjab, Titans, and RCB were in the race at the top from the start of the proceedings, and they achieved it. The only question for them was to be in the top two. Gujarat Titans, who were the table toppers in most of the series, unfortunately lost the last two matches against CSK & LSG and ended up in third place.
Panjab and RCB! Their last appearance in a Final was in 2014, & 2016, respectively. So, what a turnaround for them. At least RCB had a good run, even without a trophy, but Punjab had an almost disastrous decade. Anyway, at least one of these/ both will be there at the finals.
On the other hand, Mumbai Indians, being at the bottom in the first half, got selected for the Playoffs for the 11th time now.
- The orange cap race looks the same as last week. Sai Sudharsan and Gill from GT! Amazing young players, delivering throughout, being the backbone for GT, and fighting for the orange cap. SKY, Mitchell Marsh, and Virat Kohli are the others in the top 05.
Ishan Kishan, Priyansh Arya, Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Heinrich Klaasen, Mitchell Marsh, and Rishabh Pant are the only centurians so far.
**** Noor Ahmad is the leading wicket-taker with 24 wickets so far. Prasidh Krishna, Trent Boult, Josh Hazlewood, and Arshdeep Singh are the top 05, and Starc and Pandya managed to bag fifers.
- While most of those matches were one-sided, we had a lot of suspense in a few. I'll share some of these matches.
- The last Group stage match between Lucknow Super Giants vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru was another high-scoring chase, which helped RCB to take the second position.
Rishab Pant, who had a disastrous season despite the price tag, had some relief in this. He paired with Mitchell Marsh and added a 152 partnership for the second wicket. Pant showed his unorthodox style and scored 118 runs in 61 balls with 11 fours and 8 sixes. LSG made 227/3.
Kohli & Salt started well with 60/1 in the powerplay, and they were in a good position. Anyway, a few quick wickets fell, and when Kohli was out, they still had to get 105 runs in the last 9 with 6 wickets. Jitesh Sharma came to the party, and he was knocking like hell, with a 33-ball 85. Mayank Agarwal helped him from the other side, and these two chased down it with 8 balls remaining.
It was the third-highest successful IPL run-chase, and RCB has succeeded in winning all the away matches this season for the first time by a team (7 out of 7).
- Sunrisers Hyderabad, who had a lot of hopes with their destructive batting power, didn't have the perfect time. Anyway, by winning the last three matches, and with a commanding win, they ended up in the 6th position.
The 68th match between Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders was a blessed one. We saw what SRH was good at. Batting first, they destroyed the KKR ballers and set 278/3 in their 20 overs.
It's the third-highest team totals in the IPL, behind their own records and their 5th 250-plus total in T20s; most by any T20 team. Abhishek Sharma and Head got the destructive opening stand of 92 runs in 7 overs, and Klaasen carried it, scoring 105 off just 39 balls. 6 ballers of KKR exceeded the run rate of 10, and with 15+.
In the chase, KKR was all out for 168 in 18.4 overs, resulting in a 110-run defeat for them.
So, things are getting heated. And comment on your predictions for the next match!
Sources
So, that's it for today!! Until next time! Enjoy!
Thank you.
Best Regards!
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