Which Team Will Be Crowned IPL 2025 Champion?

Former champions Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals are all but out of the race to win the IPL 2025 Trophy. The runner-up from last year, Sunrisers Hyderabad have had a terrible run in this IPL owing to their own mistakes with team combination and style of play, which means they will not be gunning to win the IPL 2025 trophy either. The same could be said for other teams which are hanging by a thread, including Lucknow Super Giants and defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders.

With nearly half of the teams looking all but out of the competition, the race to the IPL trophy 2025 is left between largely five teams out of which four will reach the IPL play-offs this year and one of them will be crowned the champions.

The public opinion would be the want to see a new champion this year, which means teams that have never won the competition ever in history should lift the trophy on May 25.

As things stand, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi Capitals, Punjab Kings and Lucknow Super Giants are the teams in the top six who have never won the competition. Among them are five times champions Mumbai Indians who are perhaps the strongest team to beat in the competition, as well as the winners of IPL 2022 Gujarat Titans.

One of those four teams winning the IPL will crown a new champion, but among them are the giants in Mumbai Indians, who have risen up strongly to become the first team to win 150 matches in IPL and to present an incredible challenge to each of their opponents.

As things stand, there is not a single area where Mumbai Indians are lacking and are only getting formidable with every single match having won each of their last five contest so far.

Mumbai Indians have a huge collection of Indian stars in Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah to name of you who have formed the fulcrum of a strong outfit which can propel them to record sixth IPL title, given the way they have been playing.

Rohit Sharma's incredible all out attack was being questioned but the Indian superstar has been able to notch up big runs in his last few matches, finding form with the bat at the crucial stage in the tournament.

Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma are the batting mainstays for Mumbai Indians but it is Hardik Pandya who is providing them with the necessary backing, both with the bat and the ball, powering their progress towards the knockout qualification in this IPL.

Mumbai Indians also have a strong opener in South Africa's Ryan Rickelton whereas Will Jacks has been coming into his elements of late as an all-rounder.

In the bowling attack, Mumbai Indians have the qualities of taking wickets as well as restricting given that senior bowlers and Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult are doing a fabulous job so far while Deepak Chahar and spinners in Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma and Will Jacks have done their part well.

Another team which is performing on all parameters is RCB, who have a fair advantage sitting at the top of the points table after Match No 48. RCB have a perfect mix of caution and aggression throughout their playing XI with seniors in Virat Kohli and Josh Hazlewood doing the hard work in their respective departments of batting and bowling while others are also chipping in well.

RCB look a class apart and far off from their previous versions in which they had the promise, but not the performance. This year, RCB have had more performances matching the promise, which means they are one of the teams gunning for their first ever title and many people would say that they certainly deserve one.

Shubman Gill's Gujarat Titans are not too far behind, even though they looked clueless against the onslaught from 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi in their last match. Gujarat Titans have some areas of concern in their bowling department after they looked one-dimensional against a batsman who was going all out against their bowlers. But in the larger picture, Gujarat Titans should be able to figure out their shortcomings and form their plans accordingly, in order to sustain their successful run.

Punjab Kings may be at the fifth position, but their current standing in the points table does not justify the talent that they have and the potential that they can achieve through performances.

Shreyas Iyer, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh, Arya, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis form a dangerous batting lineup while the experienced Indian pair of Arshdeep Singh and Yuzvendra Chahal provide a lot of strength to their bowling.

But Punjab Kings will have to produce more results than they have so far in order to be considered as one of the favourites to win the title.

While they are on a break, the season could go either way for Lucknow Super Giants who are sitting sixth with five victories and as many defeats in 10 matches so far. The horrible run of their captain Rishabh Pant has been their biggest flaw while overseas batsmen in Nicolas Pooran, Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram doing the job of scoring runs for their side.

Apart from Digvesh Singh Rathi, LSG do not have any other bowler who has caught the eye this season and they have not been able to pull results through their bowling at least, which means they will have a lot of ground to cover in order to be able to lift the IPL 2025 trophy.

As things stand, it is Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who are looking all-round and formidable as well as in current form, who deserve to win the title. If MI wins, it will be for a record extending sixth time, and if RCB wins, they will finally bring an end to their wait for 18 years to win an IPL title.

Parimatch sports analyst Sir Vivian Richards

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