An 18-year wait for a first trophy for RCB ended on Tuesday night thanks to key contributions from Krunal Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
PBKS did brilliantly to restrict RCB to 190 after sending them in, but RCB’s bowlers did even better, with Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal – who have all won IPL titles at other teams – bringing their experience and nous to play on an unusual Ahmedabad surface.
The margin of victory was narrow – six runs – and while it showed how closely matched these two teams have been over the season, it was also deceptive.
Shashank Singh, who finished on an unbeaten 30-ball 61, hit Josh Hazlewood for 6, 4, 6, 6 to end the match and the season. But those hits came just a touch too late, PBKS went into the final over needing 29, and Hazlewood had started with a pair of dots that all but ended the contest mathematically.
