Punjab Kings defeated the Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad on Sunday night, securing a summit matchup with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and the IPL’s first new champion since 2016. The IPL has never been won by either team.
On Tuesday, June 3, the IPL final will take place in Ahmedabad as well.
After losing to the Chennai Super Kings in 2011, the Deccan Chargers in 2009, and Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016, RCB will be participating in their fourth IPL final.
In addition to just making it to the playoffs once since the idea was first proposed in 2011—during the 2014 season—PBKS have only ever made it to the IPL final once, in 2014, when they were still known as Kings XI Punjab, before losing to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The only player in IPL history to lead three different teams to the finals is Shreyas Iyer, who captained the Delhi Capitals in the 2020 final and guided KKR to the 2024 championship..
In 14 games, PBKS and RCB finished first and second in the league stage, respectively, with nine victories, four losses, and one draw. Additionally, there was not much of a difference between their net run rates. RCB won the rematch in Mullanpur, while PBKS had defeated them in Bengaluru.
On May 29, they played in Qualifier 1 in Mullanpur, where RCB defeated PBKS for 101 and won with ten overs remaining to secure their spot in the first round. To advance to the final, PBKS had to go to Ahmedabad to play MI in Qualifier 2, and they defeated them for the second time in a week.