IPL 2025 Playoffs: In-depth analysis of Top 4 teams — Who’s the real title favourite?
Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 has found their top four teams for play-offs. Punjab Kings (PBKS) will play Qualifier 1 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Mullanpur on May 29, while Mumbai Indians (MI) will play Gujarat Titans (GT) in Eliminator at Mullanpur on May 30. So, which team is most likely to lift the IPL trophy on June 3?
Here’s a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the four teams ahead of the play-offs?
Punjab Kings‘ Strengths
Inform batting and bowling unit
Punjab Kings boast of uncapped Indian batters who are making their presence felt in this campaign. Their openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have destroyed the top bowling unit in this campaign. Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh have been among the runs as well. Captain Shreyas Iyer has been leading by example with his willow. Foreign batters too are among the runs. Josh Inglish struck a match-winning 73 against Mumbai in Punjab’s last league match. Marcus Stoinis has provided the finishing touches lower down the order. Their batting has done well collectively.
Punjab’s pace bowling unit led by Arshdeep Singh, has performed above expectations. South African Marco Jansen has supported Arshdeep with his consistency. The presence of Kyle Jamieson makes the Punjab pacers formidable. Spinner Harpreet Brar has been a revelation this season, with his guile and precision. YS Chahal has also been among the wickets whenever he has got the chance to play. Overall, the bowling has complemented the batting unit really well.
Punjab Kings‘ Weaknesses
Punjab batters can self-destruct
A few times this season, Punjab batters have collapsed in a heap while playing aggressively to bat the opposition out of the game. They were bowled out for 111 against Kolkata but their bowlers did well to win the match. If the top-order misfires, it would put pressure on the middle-lower order to bail them out, and could cost them the trophy. A lot rests on captain Iyer to guide the team through difficult phases of the innings.
Read More: IPL 2025: Iyer-Ponting reunion as captain-coach duo worked well for PBKS
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Strengths
Match-winners in batting and bowling
Royal Challengers Bengaluru have match-winners in both batting and bowling department. They could single-handedly win matches on their day. Their openers Phil Salt and Virat Kohli have provided consistent good starts, Romario Shepherd cracked 14-ball 53 not out to help RCB post a match-winning total of 213/5 against Chennai. In their last league match against Lucknow, Jitesh Sharma made 33-ball 85 not to take RCB into Qualifier 1.
In the bowling department, Josh Hazlewood has been their biggest match-winner, winning matches from lost positions. Yash Dayal has also bowled a brilliant 20th over to win a couple of thrillers. Krunal Pandya has also won matches with both bat and ball.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Weaknesses
Inconsistent batting
Rajat Patidar has not been at his best in the business end of the tournament. RCB are missing the big hits from his bat in the middle-overs. The exit of Devdutt Padikkal has also left a hole in their batting unit. His replacement Mayank Aggarwal has big shoes to fill. The inconsistent batting may come to haunt RCB in the play-offs.
Bowling and captaincy
Bowling too has few weaknesses in Suyash Sharma who has not been as consistent as RCB would have liked. He has not been able to provide a good supporting act to Pandya.
Jitesh made quite a few blunders on the field as captain. For example, Pandya didn’t complete his full four overs against Lucknow although he was the best RCB bowler. If Patidar is not fit to field and captain RCB in the play-offs, the inexperience of Jitesh as captain could pose problems for RCB.
Read More: IPL 2025: GT, RCB, PBKS make it to playoffs; What clicked for them this season?
Gujarat Titans‘ Strengths
Top-Order & Bowling
Their openers have been their biggest run-makers this season. Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill have complemented each other, giving good starts, and even batting the opposition out with their partnership. If the two fire in unison, they would run away with the title. Jos Buttler at No 3 has provided the anchor to the innings. Their bowling too has complemented the batting unit, with Prasidh Krishna standing out with his unhittable line and length bowling. He has taken 23 wickets so far in this campaign. Mohammed Siraj and R Sai Kishore too have been among the wickets this season for Gujarat Titans.
Gujarat Titans‘ Weaknesses
Middle-order frailties
Whenever the openers have failed, Gujarat have struggled as their middle-order has not received much game time this season. The last two league matches saw Gujarat losing while chasing as both the openers failed to bat deep. Their middle-order comprising Sherfane Rutherford, M Shahrukh Khan, Rahul Tewatia have struggled to take the team through when the openers have been out early. The opposition would look to exploit this weakness. Also, Buttler would not be available for play-offs due to international duty. How Gujarat fill the shoes of Buttler would pose more than a stiff challenge for them.
Read More: What makes Sai Sudharsan a complete opener?
Mumbai Indians’ Strengths
SKY and bowlers’ show
Suryakumar Yadav has been single-handedly leading the Mumbai Indians batting unit this season. He is the third highest run-getter this season, with 640 runs at 71.11 with 5 fifties. He has been extremely consistent, bailing the team out on many occasions. Thanks to SKY, and a few notable contributions from Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton and Naman Dhir has helped Mumbai to make it to the play-offs. Their pace bowlers – Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, and Deepak Chahar – have hunted together, winning matches in the first 10 overs itself of the opposition innings with their wicket-taking abilities. Together, they have taken 47 wickets so far.
Mumbai Indians’ Weaknesses
The form of Hardik Pandya, Tilak Verma
After hitting two fifties in the first phase of the tournament, Tilak Varma has been struggling to score runs. Captain Hardik Pandya too has struggled to force the pace of the innings, and unable to live up to expectations, although the team performed well under him in the second part of the tournament. It has put pressure on SKY to shun his usual attacking style, and bat deep and anchor the innings. This has cost Mumbai valuable runs in the middle-overs as SKY is going after the bowling only in the last two-three overs to get enough runs on the board. If SKY falls cheaply, Mumbai will be under pressure straight away.
Also, Mumbai need to find a replacement for opener-cum-keeper Rickelton who will be leaving for international duty ahead of play-offs. Rickelton’s departure leaves a big hole in Mumbai’s playing XI. Will Jacks too will miss the play-offs. Will Mumbai find suitable replacements and lift their game in the play-offs?
So, which teams are favourites for the IPL 2025 title?
Punjab and Gujarat are the most consistent teams this season. Punjab have all their bases covered in batting and bowling, and led by a charismatic skipper in Iyer who had tasted success as captain of Kolkata last season. He knows the pressure of leading the team to title, and would be better equipped this season to take Punjab to glory.
However, Gujarat have also performed well consistently, despite the hiccups in the last two league matches which they lost. If Gill-Sudharsan fire complemented by their bowlers, they can bag their second IPL title.
Read More: IPL 2025: Reasons behind MI’s revival after a slow start
