Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson believes Royal Challengers Bengaluru could end their IPL title drought this season. RCB qualified for the IPL final for the fourth occasion after comprehensively beating Punjab Kings in the first qualifier by eight wickets at New Chandigarh in the ongoing IPL 2025 on Thursday. 

Watson, who has played for RCB in the past, backed the franchise’s veteran Virat Kohli to win the Player of the Match award in the summit clash.

RCB were able to skittle out PBKS for a paltry score of 101 runs as the home team kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Josh Hazlewood, who was making a comeback after recovering a shoulder niggle, bagged three wickets against PBKS.

“The winner of IPL 2025, and I’ve been thinking long and hard about it, is RCB. And the Man of the Match for me is Virat Kohli, the great man. And here’s the reason why. I just get a feeling that this is the time for RCB. They have had a few blips in the back end of the tournament, but with Josh Hazlewood coming back for the Playoffs, I get a feeling this is the year,” Watson said on his X handle.

Watson believes RCB would need to bring their A-game if they meet five-time champions Mumbai Indians in the final.

“With everything that’s happened with Virat Kohli, announcing his retirement from Test cricket – amazing Test career that he had – I just think things are coming back up together. They are going to have to because Punjab Kings, Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians are going to be so hard to beat. I just feel MI are going to be the team RCB are going to have to play incredibly well against. They haven’t got any weaknesses at all,” Watson added.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has been in tremendous form as he has scored 614 runs in 14 matches of the season. This is the fifth occasion when Kohli has breached the 600-run mark and he is the only batter to do so.