Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Virat Kohli ended their drought by winning a maiden Indian Premier League title, beating Punjab Kings by six runs in the final in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Bengaluru posted a modest 190 for nine with Kohli, their leading scorer this season, top scoring for them with a composed 43. It was, however, their bowling which secured their win after they restricted Punjab to 184 for seven despite Shashank Singh’s unbeaten 61 off 30 balls.
Kohli was in tears once he realised Bengaluru were about to shed the underachiever tag that has stuck to them. “This win is as much for the fans as it is for the team. It has been 18 long years,” said Kohli, who has been associated with Bengaluru since the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008. “I have given my youth, my prime. I gave it everything I have – I never thought this day would come. I was overcome with emotion as soon as the last ball was bowled.”
Put in to bat at a packed Narendra Modi Stadium, Bengaluru could not stitch together significant partnerships and fell short of the 200 mark. Kohli anchored their innings but Bengaluru could never really break loose.
Bengaluru were 87 for two at the midway stage but with enough overs left for other players to bat around Kohli. Azmatullah Omarzai deceived Kohli with a bouncer and took a running, tumbling return catch to dismiss the batter. Jitesh Sharma’s 24 off 10 balls injected some momentum into Bengaluru’s stop-start innings and Liam Livingstone made 25 but the side could not really capitalise in the final overs.
Punjab’s Kyle Jamieson took three for 48, while his new ball partner, Arshdeep Singh, bowled an excellent three-wicket final over, conceding only three runs.
Punjab got off to a rollicking start in their chase and the opener Prabhsimran Singh, then on nine, was lucky to be spilled in the deep by Romario Shepherd. Josh Hazlewood, the luckless Bengaluru bowler, did not have to wait long for success though, as Phil Salt took a stunning catch in the deep to remove Priyansh Arya (24) and break the 43-run opening stand.
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Krunal Pandya removed Prabhsimran and Shepherd redeemed himself by dismissing Punjab’s in-form captain, Shreyas Iyer, to turn the match on its head. Left-arm spinner Pandya put Bengaluru on top when he dismissed the dangerous Josh Inglis (39) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar effectively sealed the match in Bengaluru’s favour when he took the wickets of Nehal Wadhera and Marcus Stoinis in the same over.
