Rajat Patidar, who captains Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), will be praying that Mumbai Indians do not make it to the finals of the current season, according to former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who played for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. In Mullanpur on Thursday, RCB defeated the Punjab Kings by eight wickets to advance to their fourth final.

Now, the Mumbai Indians will compete against the Gujarat Titans in the Eliminator, with the victor facing the Punjab Kings in Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, June 1.

The Mumbai Indians, who have won the championship five times, are the only squad that Ashwin thinks might be able to defeat RCB in the championship game. He believes that all the planets have aligned in Virat Kohli's favor for him to win his first IPL championship.

It should be noted that the only game between Mumbai Indians and RCB during the league phase of the IPL 2025 season was a nail-biting affair at the Wankhede Stadium, where Rajat Patidar and his teammates emerged victorious.

On his YouTube channel, Ash Ki Baat, Ashwin examined the first qualifier between the Punjab Kings and RCB and said, "If RCB have to win the IPL, then Gujarat Titans should win against Mumbai Indians. MI are one team that you cannot allow to enter the final, you have to stop them at any cost."

"To avoid having Mumbai Indians in the final, RCB will keep their fingers crossed. The only team with a chance against RCB is the Mumbai Indians. Although RCB appears to be going the distance, anything is possible in cricket. The best finalist team for me would be Gujarat Titans if I were RCB. If I were RCB, I would choose to play the Gujarat Titans, he said.

'This is RCB's year'

In addition to highlighting Virat Kohli's victory in the Champions Trophy earlier this year and the T20 World Cup in December 2024, Ashwin—who retired from international cricket in December 2024—also made the case for how RCB seems to be the frontrunner to win their first IPL championship.

I just want to say one thing to you, Virat Kohli. I can't help but think that this is RCB's year, even if I don't want it to be all about Virat Kohli. People used to say all the time that Virat Kohli lacked an ICC championship. Ashwin said that he has won the Champions Trophy and T20 World Cup in the past year.

"Naturally, not both of these as captains. One of the best Test captains in India is in his possession. Will he lead RCB to its first-ever championship in the 18th season? On the big day, Virat Kohli will be on his feet. He said that he knows how to deal with circumstances like a chase.

Speaking of the match between PBKS and RCB, the former defeated Shreyas Iyer and company for 101 in Qualifier 1, winning in convincing fashion. With 60 balls left, Phil Salt then scored an unbroken half-century to aid RCB in chasing down the score.

But during the IPL 2025 season, Virat Kohli had an unusual bad day with the bat, leaving for only 12 runs. The right-hander has a strike rate of 146.54 and an average of 55.82 runs in 14 games, totaling 614 runs.

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