TimesofIndia.com in Ahmedabad: At the pre-match press conference on Monday and again at the toss, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Rajat Patidar maintained that his team would treat this final like any other match. And true to their skipper’s word, they played it just like that.In a high-pressure game, RCB stuck to their strengths and defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six runs. The win ended RCB’s — and Virat Kohli’s — 18-year wait for the elusive silverware. Kohli, who has been with the franchise since its inception, finally lifted the IPL trophy.Before Tuesday, RCB had lost three IPL finals. A common theme in those defeats was their reliance on two or three individual performances. This time, however, they built a team — instead of just banking on their superstar.That superstar, of course, was Virat Kohli.Kohli wasn’t at his best in the final. But the rest of the RCB batters stepped up to carry the load.Phil Salt began the assault with a 9-ball 17, Mayank Agarwal maintained the tempo with a brisk 18-ball 24, followed by a composed knock from captain Rajat Patidar (26 off 16 balls).The much-needed impetus came from Jitesh Sharma (25 off 10 balls), whose two sixes off Kyle Jamieson in the 17th over turned the tide in RCB’s favour. Later, some lusty blows from Liam Livingstone (25 off 15 balls) and Romario Shepherd (17 off 9 balls) helped RCB post 190 — a score that was below par in Ahmedabad but ultimately enough.Another key facet of this year’s RCB team has been their bowling.After winning Qualifier 1 in Mullanpur, Josh Hazlewood had said RCB had all their bowling bases covered.“I think we’ve just got all bases covered. Any one of the five or six bowlers can bowl at any moment of the game — start, middle, or end,” he had said.Hazlewood’s words turned prophetic in the final.This time, it was Krunal Pandya’s moment to shine. The left-arm spinner bowled a high-quality spell, finishing with 2 for 17. It wasn’t just the wickets of Prabhsimran Singh and the dangerous-looking Josh Inglis — he bowled 11 dot balls, draining the momentum from Punjab’s chase.For Punjab, Shashank Singh (61* off 30 balls) fought valiantly. He smashed 22 runs in Hazlewood’s last over, and if he had connected that full toss on the first ball, it might have been a different story.But perhaps, it was written in the stars. The one-lakh-strong crowd — 90,000 of them wearing Kohli’s No. 18 jersey — desperately wanted the legend to lift the trophy after 18 long years.A couple of years ago, after a disappointing season for the Smriti Mandhana-led RCB team in the Women’s Premier League, Kohli had opened his heart to them, sharing the weight of his frustration over the years.“If we don’t win, I’m not going to go to my grave thinking — ‘Only if I had won the IPL, I would’ve been a happy man dying.’ It doesn’t happen like that,” he had said.June 3 will be remembered as the day Virat Kohli found redemption — when he couldn’t hold back his emotions, burst into tears, and was mobbed by his teammates. He will no longer carry that one unfulfilled wish to his grave.
