'I Blame...': Nehal Wadhera Picks Culprit For PBKS' Defeat In IPL 2025 Final
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Chasing 191 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2025 final, Punjab Kings finished with 184/7.
Punjab Kings had a memorable IPL 2025, finishing at the top of the points table after the league stage. Led by Shreyas Iyer, PBKS reached the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and ultimately qualified for the final – only the second time in their history – where they finished as runners-up.
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Despite restricting their opponents, Royal Challengers Bangalore, to a seemingly below-par total at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, PBKS failed to chase down the target of 191, finishing at 184/7 in 20 overs.
Did the pitch become more difficult for batting during the second innings?
PBKS batter Nehal Wadhera disagrees, attributing the defeat to his own performance.
Wadhera, 24, believes he misjudged the pacing of his innings and should have been more aggressive instead of focusing on taking the game deep. He scored 15 runs off 18 balls before being dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
“I totally blame myself," Wadhera told the Hindustan Times. “If I had played better at that time, we could have definitely won. I won’t blame the pitch because RCB scored 190 runs."
“I think I was just taking the game deep, and I believe in finishing games by taking it deep. I think this was one of those days when I couldn’t finish the game. When I had to accelerate in all the tournaments, whenever I accelerated, I think it paid off except for the last game," he added.
Wadhera, who finished the season with 369 runs at a strike rate of 145.84, says he has learned from this experience.
“Some days, it doesn’t click, and I think it was the same day when it didn’t happen. But I don’t have any regrets that I was taking the game deep, and that situation was fine because the wickets were falling, but I think I could have accelerated a little more, which I have learnt and analysed. I will do that in the future and that will help me and the team," he said.
While the defeat in the final will undoubtedly sting, Wadhera is pleased with PBKS’s overall season.
“…we reached the finals after 11 years. I think it’s a huge achievement for us. The key results didn’t go in our favour but if we talk about the campaign, it was really good. I think we were the team that scored more than 200 runs in 7 matches, and as a batting group, we scored 3000 runs in just one season. I think it’s a huge achievement for us," he said.
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