Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) face Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the IPL 2025 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium, but a key question remains — is Tim David playing? David, who has been out with a hamstring injury, is unavailable for the title clash. RCB captain Rajat Patidar confirmed at Monday’s press conference that the franchise would assess the Australian all-rounder’s fitness in the evening. However, the batter has not recovered in time for the summit clash. David got injured while fielding during a match against SunRisers Hyderabad at the Ekana Stadium. He was in pain and could not bat properly in that match. RCB lost that game by 42 runs. David also missed the matches against Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings. Even without him, RCB defeated Punjab in Qualifier 1 and got four days of rest before the final.
Tim David played well in the league stage. He scored 187 runs in 12 matches with a strike rate of 185.14. One of his best innings was an unbeaten 50 from 26 balls against Punjab Kings in a rain-hit match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
This is RCB's fourth IPL final. They lost earlier in 2009, 2011 and 2016. Punjab Kings are playing their second final after losing in 2014.
RCB vs PBKS IPL 2025 Toss Update:
Punjab Kings won the toss and chose to bowl first. Skipper Shreyas Iyer said it is an amazing day with an electrifying crowd. Both teams will play with unchanged line-ups.
Here are the playing XIs and impact substitutes for both teams:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Playing XI
Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, Rajat Patidar (captain), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal, Josh Hazlewood
Punjab Kings Playing XI
Priyansh Arya, Josh Inglis (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer (captain), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Kyle Jamieson, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal
Impact Substitutes
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Tim Seifert, Swapnil Singh, Suyash Sharma
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh, Praveen Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Xavier Bartlet, Harpreet Brar
