Online Reporter
FORMER Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower and pace spearhead Blessing Muzarabani tasted IPL glory last night as the Royal Challengers Bangalore ended 18 years of waiting after beating the Punjab Kings by six runs in the final.
Flower coached the team, which has superstar Virat Kohli, to glory while Muzarabani was a late addition to the squad.
Their victory, in their fourth final, came at the expense of another trophy-less team that had put together a heartwarming IPL 2025 campaign; it wasn’t to be for Punjab Kings (PBKS), but their time will surely come too.
It’s a sign of how far T20 has come that 190 beating 184 was a bowler-dominated game.
PBKS did brilliantly to restrict RCB to 190 after sending them in, but RCB’s bowlers did even better, with Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal – who have all won IPL titles at other teams – bringing their experience and nous to play on an unusual Ahmedabad surface.
Dinesh Kartik said they played a lot of good cricket and the victory belonged to every fan.
“Right from the start, we believed we were a team that was good. We had a lot of bases covered. If we played the way we wanted to, I knew things would work in our favour.
“Great to see the boys stand up at different points of time.
“Even today, it was a high-pressure game; they [PBKS] really pushed us – it was not an easy wicket to bat on.
“Andy Flower put us through the rigour, really pushed us to become good support staff. I have become a better batting coach than when I started, obviously it’s my first time… the way he groomed me, helped me… Mo Bobat had a plan and a vision from the start. That’s the culmination of the efforts.” − Sports Reporter/Cricinfo
