After 18 seasons, Royal Challengers Bengaluru have finally won the IPL for the first time in their history after beating Punjab Kings by six runs in the final in Ahmedabad.
Virat Kohli top-scored with a sluggish 43 in RCB’s total of 190/9 after Shreyas Iyer chose to field, with Arshdeep Singh taking three wickets in the last over afer Kyle Jamieson also took three.
Jamieson struck in the second over to get the dangerous Phil Salt courtesy a mistimed slog that Iyer held running back from mid-on, after which Yuzvendra Chahal took out Mayank Agarwal in his opening over. RCB skipper Rajat Patidar struck a few blows in a cameo 25 which ended when Jamieson came back and trapped him lbw, while at the other end Kohli struggled for fluency and managed just three boundaries during his 35-ball innings.
When Azmatullah Omarzai ran towards midwicket to hold a catch off his own bowling and end Kohli’s struggle, RCB were 132/4 after 15 overs. Liam Livingstone hit two sixes in a brisk 25 while adding 36 off 12 balls with Jitesh Sharma, who slammed 24 from just 10. RCB seemed on course to touch 200 but a terrific last over from Arshdeep set PBKS a victory target of 191.
An opening stand of 43 between the PBKS openers had the chase on its way, but a spectacular juggling catch on the deep midwicket boundary by Salt cut off Priyansh Arya on 24 and provided RCB an opening. Up stepped the canny allrounder Krunal Pandya with a momentum-shifting spell of 2/17 from four overs, which included the major wickets of Prabhsimran Singh (26) and Josh Inglis (39).
Dented by these blows as the asking rate escalated, PBKS – not for the first time this season – started to choke. Iyer, who’s brilliant 87 not out off 41 balls lifted PBKS into the final, played a loose shot in Romario Shepherd’s first over and that wicket truly lifted RCB to another level.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to take two wickets in an over, with Shashank Singh’s 61 not out from 30 balls getting the total to 184/7 in 20 overs. Nehal Wadhera’s woeful innings of 15 off 18 balls left Shashank and Marcus Stoinis with too much to do, yet there were moments where one felt that the former could have taken some chances. Shashank struck Josh Hazlewood for three sixes in the last over, which harked back to a couple earlier deliveries where he denied singles. Given his hitting prowess, and the slim margin of six runs that RCB won by, and you wonder whether Shashank left things for too late.
This title run for RCB ends 17 seasons of despair for the fans and Kohli, who has not played for any other franchise since the IPL started in 2008. After losing finals in 2009, 2011 and 2016, Kohli was understandably emotional after the win.
“This win is as much for the fans as it is for the team,” Kohli said. “It’s been 18 long years. I’ve given this team my youth, my prime and my experience.
“I’ve tried to win this every season that I come and I give it everything I have. To finally have this moment come, it’s an unbelievable feeling. I never thought this day would come. I was overcome with emotions as soon as the last ball was bowled and this means so much to me.
“I’ve given each and every ounce of my energy to this team and finally having won the IPL, it’s an amazing feeling.”
Asked about where this ranks among his career highlights, Kohli replied: “It’s right up there, if I have to be honest. I’ve given everything that I had for the last 18 years and I’ve stayed loyal to this team, no matter what. I’ve had moments where I thought otherwise, but I stuck to this team. I stood behind them, they stood behind me and I always dreamt of winning it with them. This is far more special than winning it with anyone else because my heart is with Bangalore, my soul is with Bangalore.”
