"The game changed there" - Aakash Chopra lauds Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma's partnership in IPL 2025 final

Former India player Aakash Chopra has lauded Jitesh Sharma and Liam Livingstone for stitching together a game-changing partnership in the IPL 2025 final between the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and the Punjab Kings (PBKS). He noted that RCB would have been in a spot of bother had that partnership been broken early.

Jitesh and Livingstone added 36 runs for the fifth wicket off just 12 balls when RCB were 131/4 after 14.5 overs in the IPL 2025 final in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, June 3. Their partnership helped the Rajat Patidar-led side set PBKS a 191-run target, and they eventually won the game by six runs.

Reflecting on RCB's innings in a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener opined that Jitesh and Livingstone's partnership altered the course of the IPL 2025 final.

"Jitesh Sharma was with Liam Livingstone, and the game would have been stuck if that partnership had gotten broken, and there were chances of that happening, as Liam Livingstone wasn't in form, and the other players had gotten out before that. I thought the game changed there," he said (3:10).

Chopra added that RCB might not have even reached a fighting total had the duo not taken the PBKS bowlers to the cleaners during their two-over association.

"Kyle Jamieson came to bowl an over. They scored runs against him and changed the game a little more. I thought that made a huge difference in the end because the runs weren't that much where you would say you would get a clear-cut winner. The runs were enough to fight, and that's what happened later. I thought that partnership was absolutely critical," he elaborated.

Jitesh Sharma smashed 24 runs off 10 balls with the help of two fours and as many sixes in the IPL 2025 final. Liam Livingstone scored 25 runs off 15 balls, a knock studded with two sixes.

---

"He changed the game a little" - Aakash Chopra on Arshdeep Singh's last over in IPL 2025 final

Arshdeep Singh picked up three wickets in the last over of RCB's innings in the IPL 2025 final. [P/C: Getty]

Reflecting on PBKS' bowling, Aakash Chopra noted that Arshdeep Singh brought them back into the game with an outstanding final over.

"I liked the way Arshdeep bowled the last over - three runs and three wickets. He changed the game a little, although he was expensive at the start. In fact, at the start, it seemed like he was the only guy who wasn't following the plan. Everyone else had a plan to bowl short and use the side boundaries, or bowl a few cutters and push the batters on the back foot," he said (5:40).

While observing that Arshdeep seemingly didn't bowl as per plans in his first spell, the cricketer-turned-commentator added that the left-arm pacer made amends in his final over.

"Everyone had a buy-in to that plan, but Arshdeep wasn't doing that. However, he came in the end and bowled an over. He reduced at least 15 runs from the total that was eventually going to be scored. I thought that was an incredible effort from Arshdeep Singh. He was brilliant," Chopra observed.

Arshdeep Singh registered figures of 3/40 in four overs in the IPL 2025 final. He conceded only three runs while dismissing Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the final over of RCB's innings.