Bengaluru’s Royal Challengers defeated the Punjab Kings by six runs to win their first Indian Premier League title, along with Virat Kohli, their star player.
Bengaluru finished second in 2009, 2011 and 2016, but won on Tuesday at Narendra Modi Stadium largely as a result of Krunal Pandya’s sensational 2-17 overs.
Bengaluru’s victory marked the conclusion of the 18th year of the most well-known T20 tournament in India.
“This victory benefits the team more than the fans,” the team said. Kohli, who has been a part of Bengaluru since its inaugural edition in 2008, said it has been “18 long years”.
“I gave my youth, my age, my best,” he said. I gave it everything I had. Never did I anticipate the coming of this day. When the final ball was bowled, I was overcome with emotion.
With 43 runs scored off 35 balls, Kohli led Bengaluru to 190-9 in 20 overs. Between them, Punjab’s pacers Arshdeep Singh (3-40) and Kyle Jamieson (3-48) both took six wickets.
After a strong first half-century from Shashank Singh, Punjab’s reply sputtered and finished with 184-7 (20 overs).
Phil Salt was lost by Bengaluru by 16 runs when he was batted. Kohli, who only managed three fours in a strange knock, was slowed by it. The Indian batsman finished the season with 700 runs, which is third in the list of highest run-scorers.
With Mayank Agarwal (24) and Rajat Patidar (26), Kohli established crucial partnerships. The scorecard was constantly ticking thanks to their cameos.
While Jamieson scored his second goal by catching Patidar LBW, Azmatullah Omarzai took the crucial wicket and sent Kohli back.
Jitesh Sharma then provided the acceleration, hitting two sixes and two fours off of each, as well as two sixes and two fours from 15 balls for Liam Livingstone.
Just enough to push Bengaluru past 190 from 131-4 in 14.5 overs.
Punjab responded with a strong start, with a 43-ball effort from Priyansh Arya (24) and Prabhsimran Singh (26).
After the powerplay, Pandya struck after Salt made a smart catch by leaping across the boundary to win Arya back.
First, he returned Prabhsimran, who had earlier been clung to a dropped catch.
The 10th over saw Shreyas Iyer fall short for Romario Shepherd for one-off.
Josh Inglis hit a 39-run run on 23 balls, including four sixes, before diving in a 13th over to save Pandya in yet another devastating blow for the Kings’ chase.
The Bengaluru bowlers slashed the run rate after that, making it an uphill task for Punjab.
Shashank Singh held on, netting 61 not out of 30 balls, including six sixes, to only dwindle the victory margin.
Source: Aljazeera
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