&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "IPL 2025: Shane Watson makes bold prediction ahead of Playoffs, says THIS team will win the tournament")
The Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) Playoffs are all set to take centre stage starting Thursday (May 29) as Punjab Kings play Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the New Chandigarh Stadium in Mullanpur. With four teams remaining, the odds are stacked for one of them to win as former champions Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans stand in RCB and PBKS’ way. However, former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has backed RCB to win the tournament, in what will be their maiden IPL title.
Watson backs RCB to win
"The winner of IPL 2025, and I’ve been thinking long and hard about it, is RCB. And the Man of the Match for me is Virat Kohli, the great man. And here's the reason why. I just get a feeling that this is the time for RCB. They have had a few blips in the back end of the tournament, but with Josh Hazlewood coming back for the Playoffs, I get a feeling this is the year," Watson said in a video shared on his X handle.
RCB will enter Qualifier 1 as the second-best team in the IPL 2025 standings having finished with 19 points in 14 matches. They narrowly missed out on the top spot on Net Run Rate (NRR) as PBKS also had the same number of points. Interestingly, both PBKS and RCB are buying for their maiden title.
RCB have thrice finished as the runners-up of the IPL when they lost the final in 2009, 2011 and 2016. The team from South India also entered the Playoffs in 2024 but lost in the Eliminator contest to Rajasthan Royals.
While RCB remain Watson’s favourite to win the title, he has also backed veteran Virat Kohli to win the Player of the Tournament. He has been in great form and is currently fifth in the Orange Cap standings at the time of writing.
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