New Delhi, May 24 (IANS) Former India wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa backed Punjab Kings to finish the IPL 2025 league stage at the top of the points table after Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s loss against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Lucknow on Friday.

RCB suffered their first away loss of the season which pushed them to third spot in the points table behind Punjab Kings and table toppers Gujarat Titans.

Among the top three, only Punjab Kings have two games to play in the league stage including Saturday’s game against Delhi Capitals in Jaipur. Win in both the games would take them to the numero uno spot irrespective of other results.

Uthappa spoke on Punjab Kings’ momentum and Indian core ahead of the PBKS vs DC clash. “They’re well and truly in the race to top two. It’s about the form and confidence they’re carrying, and the way Shreyas is leading the side. That makes a big difference. Players like Prabhsimran Singh, Nehal Wadhera, and Priyansh Arya are all in scorching form, not to mention Shreyas Iyer himself. When your Indian players perform consistently, it’s a huge boost — and they’re ticking all the right boxes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them finish at the top,” he said on JioHotstar.

Former India pacer Varun Aaron further added his picks for the top teams, saying, “I’ve always backed Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings as my top two. RCB have a tendency to lose games like this, but I hope they win the eliminator and make it to the finals — for all their fans. But as of now, GT and Punjab are my top two.”

Coming back to RCB’s 42-run defeat against SRH, Uthappa highlighted batting collapse in the final overs as the reason behind their loss.

Virat Kohli and Phil Salt had an electric start to their 232 chase but following their departure no RCB batter was able to play a fruitful knock as the side was bundled out for 189 in 19.5 overs. Salt played a knock of 62 while Kohli smashed 25-ball 43 to set the foundation of the chase which was not yielded by his teammates.

“They were looking good till the 15th over, to be honest, and then things started going south very quickly. You want set batters there and the depth to chase down a target that needs one batter to bat through. That was a crucial wicket, especially after they’d just lost Mayank Agarwal in the previous over. Those back-to-back wickets forced them to slow things down, and then the run-out, really started the slide. Losing back-to-back wickets again was the final nail in the coffin. At that point, for Tim David and Jitesh Sharma to pull it off would’ve taken a miracle. And if you’re using all your miracles at this stage of the tournament, you might want to save a few for the play-offs,” he said.

Aaron reflected on Kohli’s performance and importance in run chases. “As always, he started the chase strongly — he just loves chasing. But it also shows how crucial he is to RCB’s success in a chase. This was the first time they lost a chase where he didn’t score a fifty. He’s very stable, doesn’t play too many fancy shots, just classic, quality batting. Phil Salt started off well too, but his dismissal to Cummins came at the wrong time. He should’ve just waited a bit longer to rebuild. After that, they never regained momentum. Rajat Patidar, again, had a strike rate around 120, his form is a concern. But this might be a blessing in disguise for RCB — a jolt to get things in order before the play-offs.”

–IANS

ab/