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Krunal Pandya’s name will be remembered in the annals of the history of the Indian Premier League as he was named the player of the match in the final of the 18th season of the tournament. The left-arm spinner bowled a match-winning spell and picked up two wickets while giving away only 17 runs in his four overs.
Krunal Pandya showcased the mentality of a serial winner that he must have earned from representing the Mumbai Indians all these years. Given the surface at the Narendra Modi Stadium, RCB were defending a barely par total. He came to the attack in the seventh over and turned the game from his first ball itself. He picked up two wickets, dismissing Prabhsimran Singh and Josh Inglis. What made his spell so impactful was the control with which he bowled. The left-arm spinner conceded only 17 runs in four overs.
Azmatullah Omarzai showcased brilliance with the ball whenever he came into the attack. The Afghan pacer bowled his four overs in four different bursts. Shreyas Iyer used him in short spells and reaped the rewards. Apart from his final over that went for 14 runs, Omarzai bowled exactly what the pitch demanded. He picked up the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli, who had played 35 balls. He ended up with the figures of 1/35.
Kyle Jamieson bowled with extreme control in spite of what his figures might suggest. Barring the final over, the Kiwi pacer was right on the money with his lines and lengths. He took crucial wickets at different stages of the game. He dismissed Phil Salt when it looked like the Englishman would take the game away in the power play. He dismissed Rajat Patidar in the 11th over. The RCB skipper was looking in fine touch before his dismissal. Jamieson ended his spell with a 23-run over and Livingstone’s wicket.
75% of Arshdeep Singh’s night was pretty poor for the pacer. The left-arm pacer travelled a fair bit in his first three overs, and it seemed like it was an off-day for the quick. However, coming on to bowl the final over of the innings, the brief for him must have been to control the flow of runs. However, he went one step further and picked up three wickets while giving away only three runs. He dismissed Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Phil Salt, in spite of hitting three boundaries pretty early in the innings, hit one shot too many as he was dismissed in the second over by Kyle Jamieson. His wicket meant that the rate of scoring dipped drastically. Even though RCB did not lose any other wickets in the power play, the PBKS bowlers remained disciplined and did not give away a lot of runs.
Yuzvendra Chahal, playing against his former franchise, struck in his first over and dismissed Mayank Agarawal. The second wicket brought Rajat Patidar to the crease. The RCB skipper was playing his shots, which meant that Chahal was left out of the attack for a while. However, Jamieson came back to bowl his third over and dismissed Patidar.
Virat Kohli, having opened the innings, found it really hard to get going. The right-hander remained at the crease till the 15th over, but it never looked that he was in any sort of knick. He remained at the non-striker's end for the better part of the innings. It was a knock that was pretty similar to the one he played at the same venue in the final of the ODI World Cup in 2023.
In the final overs, the wickets for RCB kept falling in regular intervals. Even though Jitesh Sharma and Romario Shepherd played some lusty blows, RCB fell short by a few runs of what would have been a par score on the surface. Arshdeep Singh after conceding 37 runs in his first three overs came back strongly and picked up three wickets in the 20th over.
The two PBKS openers started the innings showing some positive intent. Priyansh Arya was lucky on a couple of occasions when his edges resulted in boundaries. Prabhsimran Singh, early on in his innings, smashed a delivery straight to Romario Shepherd, who dropped the catch. Priyansh was dismissed shortly after his two boundaries via outside edges.
Punjab Kings lost a couple of wickets in quick succession thanks to some disciplined bowling from Krunal Pandya that created a huge deal of pressure on the batting side. Krunal picked up Prabhsimran Singh in the ninth over before Romario Shepherd dismissed Shreyas Iyer in the following over. The left-arm spinner bowled a match-winning spell for the Royal Challengers, which ended with the wicket of Josh Inglis.
Nehal Wadhera played a net negative knock, which eventually resulted in the Punjab Kings losing the clash. Shashank Singh too started pretty slowly in his knock but made up for it in the last over. While his four sixes did not make a change in the result, he remained the top scorer with 61 runs in 30 balls.
Having been put into bat by the Punjab Kings, it was a poor start for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who lost Phil Salt early in the innings. The power play did not yield many runs for them as they ended up scoring 55 runs in the first six overs.
PBKS continued with disciplined bowling and continued to chip away with wickets as well. In the 15th over, Azmatullah Omarzai got the big fish and dismissed Virat Kohli. Jitesh Sharma played a fiery cameo with the bat and struck the Punjab bowlers all around the park. He scored 24 runs off 10 balls.
Arshdeep Singh picked up three wickets in the final over and gave away only three runs. His over meant that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru ended 10 runs short of that elusive 200-run mark.
Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya got off to a good start and got lucky with a few streaky boundaries early in the second innings. However, Josh Hazlewood once again made the difference with the ball in hand and broke the opening stand.
Krunal Pandya came to bowl right after the power play and started his spell brilliantly. The left-arm spinner picked up a wicket in his second over. Romario Shepherd from the opposite end dismissed Shreyas Iyer to push PBKS in deep trouble. The left-arm spinner dismissed Josh Inglis in his third over and continued to make life tough for the Punjab Kings.
Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh found it pretty tough against the spinners. The left-handed batter was dismissed after scoring 15 runs in 18 balls and possibly played a knock that resulted in PBKS losing the clash.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up a couple of wickets in the 17th over to seal the clash before Yash Dayal got the better of Azmatullah Omarzai in the next over. With 29 runs to defend in the final over, Hazlewood bowled a couple of dots to start the over. He conceded 22 in the next four balls from Shashank, but it proved to be too little, too late.
After the wait of 18 years, the drought is over as Royal Challengers Bengaluru has finally lifted the IPL trophy. The match was nothing short of a thriller as RCB batting first posted a total of 190 runs and most of the commentators thought it is a below par total on a belter of a batting pitch at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. The PBKS bowlers especially the likes of Kyle Jamieson and Arshdeep Singh bowled brilliantly and picked up 3 wickets each. Then in the batting innings of PBKS, the openers started decently but once the openers were gone, the middle order faltered. Krunal Pandya bowled a match winning spell and restricted the PBKS batters. The likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal too were economical, giving RCB fans a moment to cherish forever.
Player of the Match: Krunal Pandya (4- 0-17-2)
Super Striker: Jitesh Sharma
Super Sixes: Shashank Singh
On the go Fours: Priyansh Arya
Green Dot Balls: Krunal Pandya
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