“EE Sala Cup Namde,” the most used phrase by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru fans, might just come true after 18 long years for them as RCB has humiliated the Punjab Kings in their home ground for the second time this season and RCB has won the Qualifier 1 by 8 wickets to seal their place in the IPL Final for the first time since 2016. The top 2 teams of the IPL were facing off each other for a direct spot in the final, and the Bengaluru Boys were just too good on the field as the whole match was one-sided, and it never even looked like for a moment that the Punjab Kings would win the game. RCB side led by Rajat Patidar has proved all the experts questioning their auction strategy wrong as they are just one more step away from winning their first IPL title. Virat Kohli the main man who has won everything in cricket is also just one step away from winning every trophy possible for him to win and in the match against PBKS the aggressive energy of the former captain was just out of the world as the KING was celebrating wickets more than the bowlers and the way he was involved in setting fieldings and the way he was guiding the bowlers where to bowl proved that Virat Kohli is the leader of this incredible team even without having the (C) written next to his name.
A bowling performance for Ages
RCB won the toss and their captain Rajat Patidar decided to ball first on a green Mullanpur pitch where the ball was expected to get some extra bounce and also a lot of swing with the new ball and the RCB bowlers exactly knew hot to use the pitch as they bundled out a strong PBKS batting line up for just 101 runs in 14.1 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal dismissed both the uncapped strong Indian opener of Punjab in the powerplay only as Priyansh was dismissed by Yash, whereas PrabhSimran played a reckless shot to Bhuvneshwar, which led to a catch in the hands of Jitesh Sharma. The dangerous Josh Inglis and the Captain Shreyas Iyer were dismissed on single-digit scores by the returning Josh Hazlewood, who led the attack and did the final damage inside the powerplay, only from which the Punjab Kings team never recovered, and they managed to get out on the joint 2nd lowest total in the IPL playoffs. The Man of the Match was Suyash Sharma, the spinner who broke the backbone of Punjab Kings as he dismantled the Punjab middle order single-handedly, he took wickets of Shashank and Stoinis, who both played reckless shots, which led to Suyash taking out their stumps. Suyash also managed to take the wicket of Punjab’s impact sub and debutant Musheer Khan for a duck.
Salt takes RCB to the Final
RCB had to chase down a small target of 102 runs to reach the IPL finals, and they chased it down on just 10 overs, and it was led by the English batter Phil Salt, who scored a brilliant half century off just 23 deliveries to get his team to their first final since 2016. The Punjab bowlers never looked like dominating the batters, except the one Kyle Jamieson over where he got Virat Kohli out. Phil Salt, along with Mayank Agarawal and Rajat Patidar, took RCB over the line. After the match, Rajat Patidar acknowledged his teams' performance and said
“I think we were clear in our plans, how we have to bowl. I think the fast bowlers used the surface really well. The way Suyash chipped in, the way he bowled his lines and lengths, that was really good. As a captain I am clear about his bowling. He has to target the stumps, that's his strength. His wrong 'un is difficult to read for the batters. I always want to give him clear ideas, I don't want to confuse him. I am okay if he concedes a few runs (in the process.) We have had a lot of practice sessions throughout the tournament, so one day of not practising won't harm you. The way he (Salt) is batting in most of the matches. The way he is giving starts, I am a big fan of him. It's a treat to watch him from the dugout. That's really good. I always thank RCB fans,not only in Chinnaswamy, but wherever we go we feel it's our home ground. We love you, so keep supporting us. One more game and let's celebrate together.”
We have lost the battle, not the war - Iyer
This was the worst batting performance for the Punjab Kings and that too coming in a big match would have had a strong impact on them as they now will be waiting for either Gujarat Titans or Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 2 as they do get one more shot of reaching the Final as they finished on top of the points table. After the match Iyer said that they will not let this affect them as they will be looking to still reach the finals and the Captain said
“Not a day to forget, but got to go back to the drawing board. We lost a lot of wickets (in the first innings.) There's a lot to go back and study on. I am not doubting on my decisions to be honest. Whatever we did in terms of planning, outside of the ground whatever (planning) we did, I think it was on point. Just that we couldn't execute it on the field. Can't even blame the bowlers, as it was a low total to defend. We got to work on our batting especially on this wicket. In all the games we have played here there has been some variable bounce. We can't give such reasons because we are professionals at the end of the day and we have to bat according to the situation and we have to live up to it. We have lost the battle, but not the war.”
RCB will now be heading to Ahmedabad and will be waiting to see who they will be facing on the 3rd of June in the IPL final, and Punjab will also be heading to Ahmedabad for Qualifier 2 and will be looking forward to winning that and meeting RCB in the Final.
About the Author
Arpit Sharma is a sports writer and journalism student at Chandigarh University, with a strong interest in sports analysis and storytelling. His writing combines match insights with a fresh, fan-first perspective that brings the game to life.
Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Vygr's views.
With inputs from agencies
Image Source: Multiple agencies
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