History was created at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday when Royal Challengers Bangalore won the IPL title for the first time in 18 years. It defeated Punjab KIngs by 6 runs in the final.
Put in to bat first in the final match after Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and decided to bowl first, Kyle Jamieson (3/48) and Arshdeep Singh (3/40) stood the ground for Punjab Kings restricting Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a 190 runs on the board. Arshdeep bowled brilliantly in the last over of the innings, giving only three runs and taking three wickets.
Playing in an IPL final for the fourth time in his 18-year IPL career, Virat Kohli, scored the highest 43 runs for his team with one four in the first nine overs along with 18 dot balls. Both RCB and Punjab came face to face in an IP final for the first time. Punjab Kings had made it to the finals after 11 years while RCB after 9 years.
Chasing the target, Punjab Kings started on a fast pace with a partnership of 43 runs for the first wicket. After this, Hazelwood gave the first blow by dismissing Priyansh Arya for 24 while Prabhsimran fell next on a score of 79 runs. However, Punjab Kings middle order seemingly buckled under pressure after Captain Shreyas Iyer was caught behind for just one run.
For RCB, Krunal Pandya took two wickets for 17 runs in 4 overs. He sent set batsman Josh Inglis back on 39 runs turning tables for his team. Kunal also put the last nail in Punjab’s defeat by taking two wickets in the 17th over. Punjab Kings could only score 184 runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs.
Shashank Singh fought the battle
After Josh Inglis, Shashank Singh fought back for Punjab Kings playing an unbeaten innings of 61 runs off 30 balls with three fours and 6 sixes. He kept the hopes of Punjab Kings alive till the end.
The RCB team missed the opportunity to score a big score. The pitch was good for batting, but RCB batsmen lost wickets one after the other and no one could play a big innings. Phil Salt (16) and Virat gave the team a steady start, but in the second over, Jamieson dismissed Salt and gave the first blow to RCB.
After this, Kohli took the innings forward with Mayank Agarwal (24) and took the team’s score beyond 50. By the powerplay, RCB had scored 55 runs. After this, Shreyas handed the ball to his most trusted bowler Chahal who trapped Mayank on the second ball of the over. Chahal dismissed Mayank for the seventh time in IPL. After the second wicket, RCB’s run rate also slowed down a bit. Virat Kohli once again tried to handle the innings but his contribution was just 43 runs with three fours in 35 balls at strike rate of 122.85. The team could add only 42 runs between six and 11 overs.
After conceding 37 runs in the first three overs, Punjab Kings star bowler Arshdeep Singh made a brilliant comeback in the last over raking in three wickets of Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Romario Shepherd.
