David Warner's final predictions: Prophecy for new IPL champions, snubs Virat Kohli for player of the match
2016 IPL-winning skipper David Warner made a bold prediction for the winner of the ongoing season as the tournament has already entered the business end with two matches left to play. Warner is one of the three overseas players to lead an IPL team to a title triumph, before him, Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist etched their names in the history. He feels a new IPL champion will be crowned on June 3 and predicted that Josh Hazlewood will play a pivotal role in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru ending their title drought.
RCB have already sealed a place in the IPL 2025 final with a thumping win over Punjab Kings in the qualifier 1 and reaching there first made them a firm favourite to win the title.
It was Warner who stopped RCB from lifting their maiden title when they last reached the IPL final in 2016, as Sunrisers Hyderabad emerged victorious at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. Warner scored a fiery 69 off 38 balls, setting the tone for a big total - 208/7, while Virat Kohli and co. did put up a fight with the bat but were eight runs short in the end.
However, Warner feels that this year, RCB will go over the line and end their title drought, and Hazlewood, not Virat Kohli, will be their standout performer.
A fan on X asked Warner, 'David, what do you think, who will be the champion of the Tata IPL 2025? @davidwarner31'
The veteran Australian opener replied, 'I think RCB and Josh hazelwood man of the match.'
RCB made history on their road to Qualifier 1, becoming the first team in IPL history to win all of their away games in a single league stage. While Rajat Patidar's leadership has drawn praise, it's Virat Kohli who has once again been the backbone of their campaign — amassing over 600 runs, including a record-breaking eight fifties, the highest by any batter this season. Remarkably, every time Kohli hit a half-century while chasing, RCB ended up on the winning side. This also marks the fifth time Kohli has crossed the 600-run mark in a season — the most by any player in IPL history.
Josh Hazlewood is another player who has been pivotal in RCB's consistent show this year. The Aussie player missed the last few league stage matches due to shoulder niggle. However, he returned in time to produce a match-winning spell - 3/21 in 3.1 overs against Punjab Kings in qualifier 1.
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