Sports
Recently match report – Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Indian Premier League 2025, Final
Royal Challengers Bangalore 9 for 190 (Kohli 43, Arshdeep 3-40, Jaimison 3-48) Beat Punjab kings 7 for 184 (Shashank 61*, Illis 39, Krunal 2-17, Bhubaneswar 2-38) by six runs
Eighteen years spent in belief that EE Sala Cup Namde (Cup this year is ours), 17 of them are ending in disappointment for one of the largest and most emotional fan of IPL, three of them ended with defeat in the final barrier.
Eighteen seasons in, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Finally is the IPL champion. His victory in their fourth final came at the cost of another trophy-less team, which kept together with heart together IPL 2025 Campaign; It was not for Punjab kings (PBK), but their time will definitely come.
This is an indication of how far the T20 has come out of the 190 beating 184 was a bowler-content game. PBKS after sending them did a brilliant manner to ban RCB till 190, but RCB bowlers did even better, with Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar And Yash Dayal – Those who have won IPL titles in all teams – bringing their experiences and sewers to play on the surface of an unusual Ahmedabad.
The difference of victory was narrow – six runs – and while it was shown how closely these two teams had matching the season were also misleading. Shashank SinghWhich ended at an unbeaten 30-ball 61, hit Josh hazalwood For 6, 4, 6, 6 to end the match and season. But those hits came very late a touch; PBK went into the final at the need of 29, and Hazelwood started with a pair of dots, but all ended the competition mathematically.
After the winning IPL 2025, Tom Moody says, “His cricket career was almost born here.”
Lucky for 18th time number 18
At the end, all eyes were on a man, man with 18 on his back. Like his innings Last year’s T20 World Cup final, Virat KohliThe game seemed to be at 43 different points as it belonged to another era, very risky-prostrate, and its team is likely to set a total of total. But there was clue in his entire knock that it was not such a pitch that Ahmedabad rolled out regularly this season, where 196 was the first innings in eight matches. He especially struggled to generate power with his bridge shot, generating tennis-ball bounces with PBKS seamers when he bowled in the pitch.
A target of 191, for all of that, looked too small for a PBKS line-up Closed 204 Two days ago with an over on the same ground. But this pitch was different, and it was not necessary through the second innings. Between them, the bright batting talents of the two PBks overtook Kohli’s struggles: where Kohli scored 43 runs in 35 balls, Prabhasimran Singh and Nehal Vaidhera scored 40 runs between them.
Tom Moody says
Krunal bends in another final in its will
Krunal has won three IPL titles with Mumbai Indians (MI), and was Match player In one of them. He was for what he did with the bat.
This time, he came to bat in the 18th over and scored 5 to 4 runs. This time, he changed the match with the ball.
The final was on the edge of the knife when he came. Pbks were 52 for 1 at the end of their powerplay; RCB was 55 for 1 at the same level.
The first over of Krunal included most of the materials, which made it so difficult to hit him on this pitch, which had sufficient natural variation of speed and made it difficult to line up. He bowled fast and in the pitch, either the ball engulfed in the right -handed leg stump and spasted them for the room or offered a single to sweeper cover to the wide stumps to offer a single to sweeper cover, which they did not want exclusively. It had only three runs.
His next over was brought to another dimension: the ability to see the batsman’s intentions and change his speed in the last moment. Charging the struggling Prabhasimran on it, the Kruil – whose normal speed occurs in the 98–101kph range – threatens the 80kph ball outside his iline. Exiting the shape, Prabhasimran gestured a catch.
Varun Aaron and Tom Moody in a memorable season for Punjab Kings
Iyer and Englandis fall at the wrong time for PBK
go back to November 19, 2023, Shreyas Iyer The ODI was in a red-hot form through the World Cup, and played the innings India’s semi -final winThen, in the final, he fell quickly, caught behind a back-off-one length delivery.
The same script is now played again, more or less. Where he poured uncertainly into Pat Cummins two years ago, he topped the attempted slash through the point, away from the Roman Shepherd. This was a large -scale divine point in the game, requiring PBK 112 off 62 balls.
They were still with more than a shout, however, due to the depth of his batting, and because Josh english Was playing a blinder. On this pitch where the small or small ball was not coming on the bat on anything like an forecast speed or height, he was playing a bridge like a man in a dream. He scored 33 runs out of 10 bridges against pace and spin, hitting one four and four sixes.
However, at the age of 39, he looked at Kruel to step and launch on long-on, and did not find either strength or height to do so. At that point, PBKs needed 93 in 47, it was all over.
Tom Moody sees the number of playoff shows as a guide how well the IPL franchise runs
A Shashank is too late for redemption
Shashank started his season in the same field, and Hit five fours Now in a prestigious final, leaving his captain at 97, without strike.
They finished it with another glow, kept PBK hanging by their nails, even climbing at the required rate. He hit Hajalwood for two sixes in the 16th over, and put the equation within the limit of possibility: 55 to 24 runs. Then, back to the hut with the rest of the PBK batsmen and real all -rounders, he refused a single and kept the strike through the 19th over, killing Bhuvaneshwar 29 to kill a six and a four for a four.
It was not, but the explosion when the end was, when the match was done, showed how close the PBKs could have come if things had gone slightly.
Jitesh plays an important hand role
Through most of RCB’s innings, it became difficult to pin whether they were touching a flat pitch at a very slow pace or laying a strong platform at a slow pace. While Kohli talked at one end, his top-order colleagues kept falling, while they were threatening, Phil Salat, Rajat Patidar and Liam Livingstone scored 66 runs between them scoring 43 runs. All three fell Kyle JaimisonThose who used a slow legkt to explain the effect, either to die on the batsman with a short length or when he was completed, a disappointing dip.
Jaimison, Azmatullah Omrajai and Vijayakumar Vyashak removed everyone at a difficult length, and RCB could not find a way to attack that length. Jitesh Sharma Gone inside, out of 10 balls there was a significant small cameo in 24 balls, with a flat-bate six-over cover, when he exposed all his stumps to make room, and scooped six on his head, while the bowler, hit the chest on the chest.
Jitesh’s innings threatened to take RCB to the last 200, but his ambitions were submerged by Vyasak, who scored just five runs in the 18th over, and rejected Arshdeep Singh, who found River-Swing that he was allowed to attack the five-run final.
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Sam Tighe
For Europe’s biggest clubs and leagues, the time for transfers in 2025 has come and gone, and they won’t be able to do any more business until January. Which is probably a good thing given the overall spending record in the Premier League has been broken again.
Having had two transfer windows this summer — as FIFA allowed an additional registration period, which ran from June 1 to 10, due to the Club World Cup — the second period closed at 7 p.m. BST (2 p.m. ET) in England, Italy, France and Germany on Monday, and a few hours later in Spain.
– Deadline Day: All the action as it happened
– Transfer grades: All men’s summer signings, rated!
– Ogden: How are all the new attackers faring in PL?
Now the clubs, players, managers and agents will sit back and assess. Some got their wishes and some didn’t; some excelled in their movements over the summer, while others will be lamenting missed opportunities.
With that, let’s look back at what happened during the window and sort the results into winners and losers (with a few who sit in between). Here’s who nailed it — and who didn’t.
WINNERS
Liverpool
We’ll start with by far the biggest spenders, Liverpool. Only time will tell if this truly is the greatest transfer window of all time (as some excited individuals have claimed), but it’s certainly an eye-popping haul of players.
The Reds broke the British transfer record twice this summer, first to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for £100m plus a potential £16m in add-ons, then again on deadline day to sign Alexander Isak from Newcastle United for £130m. Outside of these two monster deals, they also scooped up Hugo Ekitike for £69m, Milos Kerkez for £40m, Jeremie Frimpong for £29m and Giovanni Leoni for £26m. All of this business supplements a title-winning squad that secured Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk to new contracts earlier in the summer.
2:05
Laurens: Liverpool still don’t look good despite victory over Arsenal
Julien Laurens believes Liverpool still don’t “look good” despite their 1-0 victory over Arsenal.
As usual, they played the exits game tremendously well too, raising over £200m in proceeds on players like Luis Díaz, Jarell Quansah, Darwin Núñez and more. Now, it’s a case of fitting all the new players together.
There was one hiccup in the form of Marc Guéhi for £35m: His £35m move from Crystal Palace was all agreed on deadline day, but it fell through late on because the Eagles couldn’t secure his replacement. But it’s still a remarkable body of work on a massive scale.
Too much change in a short space of time can sometimes be a bad thing, and Liverpool’s early season performances have been pretty ropey, but they’re picking up wins while still finding their feet. It’s ominous.
Arsenal
Sensing an opportunity, or feeling the pressure to simply keep up with their big-spending rivals? Whatever the reason, Arsenal went for it this summer, adding eight first-team players to the squad in an effort to bulk up for another title challenge.
The Gunners stocked up and improved in almost every position. Viktor Gyökeres, Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke enhanced the front line; Martín Zubimendi and Christian Nørgaard beefed up the midfield; Cristian Mosquera and Piero Hincapié bolstered the defence; and Kepa Arrizabalaga will competently back up David Raya in goal.
This is now a tremendously deep squad, capable of covering injuries and absences in a way it simply was not before. We’ve already seen evidence of that, with Madueke impressing in Bukayo Saka‘s stead and Mosquera stepping in valiantly for William Saliba during Sunday’s defeat at Liverpool.
1:54
Nicol: Arsenal didn’t come to Anfield to win
Steve Nicol criticises Mikel Arteta’s approach in Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.
What makes this haul of players even sweeter is that at least two of them were poached from under the noses of rival interested parties. Zubimendi was a major target for Liverpool in 2024, but held on for a year to move to Arsenal, while arch-rivals Spurs thought they had Eze wrapped up … only for the Gunners to gazump them in the 11th hour.
Real Madrid
Understandably furious with their 2024-25 performance, Real Madrid acted swiftly and decisively early this summer, setting the tone for what they’ll hope is a significantly better 2025-26 campaign.
Xabi Alonso was selected and installed as manager in time for the Club World Cup. The perfect combination of modern, suave and tactically astute, it signalled that change was afoot.
The club then furnished him with some superb signings: Trent Alexander-Arnold, one of the best right-backs in football, was secured on the cheap; Dean Huijsen, one of the finest centre-backs in football, was brought in to alleviate issues in the heart of defence; Álvaro Carreras, a more defensive-minded left-back, was recruited to balance out Trent’s attacking nature; Franco Mastantuono, the gem of Argentine football, arrived despite interest from Paris Saint-Germain.
In terms of exits, only a handful of aging stars — Luka Modrić and Lucas Vázquez — departed, meaning the oft-linked-away Rodrygo stayed put. That makes the Brazilian a depth option for los Blancos — a ridiculous thing to say really, given his talent — and underlines how seriously Madrid are taking the task of dethroning Barcelona this year.
NEUTRAL
Manchester United
The bad bits from United’s window were: Overpaying for Matheus Cunha (£62.5m) and Bryan Mbeumo (£65m) — ESPN’s Ryan O’Hanlon does a good job of explaining why — and not signing a new central midfielder. But there were some good bits, too. Signing striker Benjamin Sesko and goalkeeper Senne Lammens represented a return to their previous strategy of acquiring young talent to develop — considering they are deep into a painful rebuild, it’s the right idea.
2:07
Will less pressure at Napoli help Højlund succeed?
Don Hutchison discusses Rasmus Højlund’s loan deal to Napoli after a tough few seasons with Manchester United.
They also cleared out the majority of their unwanted players, most of them permanently. Antony, Alejandro Garnacho are definitely gone; Rasmus Højlund is as good as gone, and the financial burden of Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho has been mostly lifted for another season.
All of that combined leaves them in the neutral zone.
Manchester City
Joining them in that neither good-nor-bad zone is their arch-rivals Man City, who have done some really good business this summer, but also struck some deals that raise more questions than answers.
Starting with the good, Tijjani Reijnders has already shown flashes of his brilliance and Rayan Aït-Nouri was surprisingly cheap to acquire from Wolves. But while Rayan Cherki and Gianluigi Donnarumma are obviously excellent players, they seriously jar with Pep Guardiola’s style — the former does not offer anything from a defensive standpoint, while the latter is one of the poorest goalkeepers with the ball at his feet you’ll see anywhere. Why would Pep want him?
0:57
Can Man City get the Donnarumma deal over the line?
Rob Dawson explains Gianluigi Donnarumma’s expected move to Manchester City, conditional to Fenerbahçe signing Ederson.
They’ve also let stalwarts Manuel Akanji and Éderson go for relative peanuts, which seems to be a direct result of simply having so many players, a few were destined to leave.
Off the back of 2025’s transfer work, City certainly look younger and more energised. But are they actually better?
LOSERS
Newcastle United
Newcastle’s entire summer was haunted, and effectively ruined, by the spectre of Alexander Isak. He expressed his desire to leave the club in July, sparking a bid from Liverpool that was firmly declined. What followed was a very long, very draining staring contest between the two clubs, with the player continually making it clear he was determined to leave.
This standoff gave the Magpies roughly six weeks to source two strikers as replacements for the towering Sweden international (and the departed Callum Wilson), but every time they entered the market for a player, they seemed to lose out. They tried and failed to sign Hugo Ekitiké, Benjamin Sesko, João Pedro, Liam Delap and Jørgen Strand Larsen — and those are just the ones we know about.
Finally, in the last hours of the window, they struck deals for Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade (£65m) and Yoane Wissa (£50m) and allowed Isak to leave for £130m. That said, it’s an exchange that unfortunately leaves them worse off than they were at the end of last season.
They did at least get some other business done: Jacob Ramsey joined for £39m to bolster the midfield, while centre-back Malick Thiaw was a good get for £33m from AC Milan. But it’s nowhere near enough to overcome what has been a very sore summer for the Toon army.
Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen made a lot of money this summer, but they also lost a lot of talent and experience. Every transfer window is an exercise in balance, and it’s pretty obvious die Werkself have tipped the scales way too far here in the wrong direction.
Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Jonathan Tah, Amine Adli, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky, Odilon Kossounou and Piero Hincapié — all of whom made 20 or more Bundesliga appearances in 2023-24’s title win — left the club this summer. Former manager Erik ten Hag — yes! Former! He was sacked on deadline day after two league games! — openly complained about the talent drain out of the club this summer, so it’s not as if this all happened in secret.
2:21
Were Bayer Leverkusen right to have sacked Erik ten Hag?
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens debate if Bayer Leverkusen were right to sack Erik ten Hag after just 60 days.
Leverkusen have been active with incomings, too — Malik Tillman, Jarell Quansah, Loïc Badé and Eliesse Ben Seghir are all good additions — but they’ve launched themselves backwards, into a rebuild and as of Sept. 1, they’re also in search for a new manager.
Bayern Munich
It was a tough summer for Bayern Munich who, for the most part, really struggled to get deals over the line. That led to a lot of questions, a fair amount of panicking, and then two big fees dropped on Premier League players that could go either way.
June began with the signing of Jonathan Tah from Leverkusen, a long-term target. He was celebrated as a free transfer, but reports suggest they paid a substantial signing-on fee and handed him monster wages, despite the fact he does not definitively improve their XI. Then they turned their attention to signing a winger, but missed out on their No. 1 target, Nico Williams, who opted to stay at Athletic Club. They were then linked to Marcus Rashford, but he joined Barcelona.
Meanwhile, Leroy Sané left for Galatasaray, Thomas Müller departed for the Vancouver Whitecaps in Major League Soccer, Kingsley Coman joined Al Nassr and, worst of all, Jamal Musiala suffered a serious injury at the Club World Cup. It left them astonishingly short of attacking bodies, forcing them into action.
Paying €75m for Liverpool’s 28-year-old winger Luis Díaz has been universally scoffed at as an overpay, but after also failing to sign Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade (who went to Newcastle), it was obvious Bayern were running out of ideas.
On deadline day, they signed Chelsea‘s Nicolas Jackson for a loan fee of €16.5m plus an obligation of a further €65m — another huge commitment to a player who is good, but perhaps not great.
Aston Villa
1:16
Why are Manchester United happy about Sancho deal?
Rob Dawson explains why Manchester United are largely satisfied with Jadon Sancho’s loan move to Aston Villa, despite him having just one year remaining on his contract.
A flurry of deadline day activity brought three signings — Victor Lindelöf on a free, Jadon Sancho on loan from Manchester United and Harvey Elliott for an eventual £35m package from Liverpool — but it’s not enough to paper over what was a frustrating and genuinely uncomfortable summer window for Aston Villa.
Operating under extreme cost-cutting measures following a settlement agreement and fine from UEFA, Villa were faced with the task of at least treading water (and of course trying to get better) while reducing their wage bill by 20-25%, or else be banned from European competition in the future. That’s pretty tough to do.
Rumours stalked most of their key players all summer, creating a sense of unease during pre-season, and it became clear Villa needed to clear out their squad depth and potentially lose an important asset before they could commit to making signings. They lost their homegrown, boyhood fan of the club Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle.
Entering deadline day, it was expected that Emiliano Martínez would leave for Manchester United, potentially creating more room to spend, but his move fell through. While the fact they haven’t lost a top-class goalkeeper is a positive on paper, it represented yet another zigzag to navigate for Villa’s decision-makers, trying desperately to improve the team while not breaching UEFA’s rules.
Indian Grandmaster (GM) Rameshbabu Praggananandha continues to underline his position as one of the most consistent elite players in the world, stable in world number four in the September Fide rating list. A strong performance in the Cincwafild Cup remains the most ranked Indian after 20 -year -old, fresh, world champion D Gukesh, with Arjun Ergasi to complete a trio of Indians in the top six.While the rating stability of the prehgananandha highlights their maturity at such a young age, the biggest rating story of the month came from Vincent Keymer. Go beyond the border with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!The 20 -year -old German made a great jump in the top ten of the world for the first time, climbing 21 to 10th position after scoring 21 Aloe points in Chennai Grand Masters. With an ELO of 2751, Kimer is the most rated German in history, even Robert Habner, the global top, crossed the final German player for the convenience of ten decades ago.Kimar’s bounce saw him underlining the generational change at the game’s summit, leaping her legends such as Ding Liran, Vishwanathan Anand, and Ian Napomiachty. In the world’s elite class, only Kiril Alexenko of Russia matched its monthly advantage (+22), while Dimitri Andreikin also increased rapidly with a +15 points to reach 30th position.At the other end of the spectrum, Nodirbek Abdusattorov endured a disastrous month, lost 23 points in the Sinquifild Cup and out of the top ten, ranked 11th to 11th. The same tournament rejoiced Vesley, who raised 11 rating points, won the playoffs in St. Louis, and returned to seventh position.The world’s top three, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana, are unchanged. But behind them, Praggananandha continues to look like the successor, their stable rating profit is complementary with their dominance of the Fide Circuit Standing. The Grand Swiss in Samarkand and the World Cup in Goa look ready to shine in Chennai.
New Delhi: Kerone pollard This continues to prove that age is just a number. At the age of 38, Trinbago Knight Riders Powerhouse once again reminded fans as to why they are considered one of the most destructive T20 batsmen of all time. In the Caribbean Premier League struggle against St. Kits and Nevis Patriots, Pollard produced a jaw-leaving exhibition of power-touching, which surprised both fans and opposition bowlers.Walking with his team in search of speed, Pollard took his time to settle in the beginning. After 13 balls, he scored just 12 runs-an unwanted start for the big hitting giants. But whatever was there after this, it was complete destruction.Pollard suddenly changed the gear, began a surprising attack on the bowlers. He hit seven sixes in the space of eight delivery, which easily cleaned the border. In his final 16 balls, he scored 53 runs at a shocking strike rate of 331.25.His overall innings scored 65 runs off just 29 balls, with eight sixes and two fours. The main attraction of his knock came in the last eight balls, which he faced: 6, 6, 0, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-Shrine, because Pollard turned the match into an united spectacle.For the opposition, this was a bad dream. For fans, it was Vintage Pollard – reminding everyone of their golden years with the bat.
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