IPL 2025, Qualifier 2: Ahmedabad receives slight drizzle on match eve as rain threatens PBKS-MI clash

Ahmedabad, the venue for IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 between Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians, received a slight drizzle on Saturday (May 31), threatening to spoil Sunday’s blockbuster tie at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium. Although the city hasn’t experienced heavy showers leading up to this season’s penultimate game, the rain briefly affected PBKS’ training session on the match eve, per the latest reports.

Will it rain on Sunday evening in Ahmedabad?

The weather forecast for Sunday’s Qualifier 2 suggests the likelihood of rain, with Accuweather predicting a breezy evening with the possibility of late showers. Although the chances of rain abandoning the Punjab vs Mumbai clash in Ahmedabad are minimal, there remain adequate reasons for caution.

What happens if Qualifier 2 gets washed out?

Should rain wash out any chance of this game getting underway on Sunday, also considering there remains no reserve day for Qualifier 2, the table-toppers – Punjab Kings (PBKS) will advance to the IPL 2025 Final. They get an automatic qualification by their superior finish on the points table following the league stage.

While Punjab finished the group stage with 19 points from 14 contested matches, winning nine, Mumbai Indians stood fourth on the table with 16 points.

Match Preview

Punjab and Mumbai will face off in the penultimate game of the season in Ahmedabad. Punjab is playing Qualifier 2 after losing the first game of IPL 2025 playoffs to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, while Mumbai advanced to this stage after topping Gujarat Titans in the Eliminator.

At PBKS, Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting‘s partnership turned the tables around for the franchise, as they finished first on the points table only for the second time in history and the first time after 2014. Their winning spree in IPL 2025 impressed everyone, including the pundits, with some of them backing PBKS to win their maiden title this time.

On the other hand, star-studded Mumbai Indians (MI) have advanced to the IPL 2025 playoffs despite a shallow start to the tournament. Under new captain Hardik Pandya, Mumbai began tasting success once ace quick Jasprit Bumrah returned to cricket following a four-month hiatus, winning enough games to enter the top four.

However, with them having all the arsenal required to chase their record sixth title, Mumbai will come all guns blazing against Punjab, making this a mouth-watering contest.

Here are the predicted playing Xis of both teams –

PBKS - Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Josh Inglis (wk), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Arshdeep Singh, Kyle Jamieson and Yuzvendra Chahal

MI - Rohit Sharma, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (captain), Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Richard Gleeson and Ashwani Kumar