Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 4 : Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally sealed their first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL), with their much-scrutinised bowling joining the party not only during the title clash, but throughout the entire season while their batters, particularly Virat Kohli continued providing returns expected of them.
RCB's historic title win was a team effort like no other, as everyone stepped in, even if it was for a match. There was not even a single player who could be villianised for any negative contributions, as even the underperformers had their moments. The pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal, the opening pair of Phil Salt and Virat Kohli and spinner Krunal Pandya, though, stood out tall amongst all.
-Different matches, different match-winners
During this entire season, it was as if every player was out there to prove a point. The 'Player of the Match' honours were won by nine different players, the most by a team during a single edition of the IPL.
Krunal won the first POTM award for his 3/29 against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the tournament opener, which restricted them to 174/8. In the finals, he returned to produce an all-time great spell of 2/17 in four overs, putting humungous pressure on PBKS and becoming the first player with two POTMs in the finals. In between this, he also produced a brilliant half-century in a modest chase against Delhi Capitals (DC), earning him POTM for his batting.
Skipper Rajat Patidar also bagged the award twice for his match-winning fifties against struggling heavyweights Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
A blistering 65 in 33 to chase down 174 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) got Salt his individual glory too, while Tim David's valiant half-century that pushed RCB to 95/9 in a rain-hit match against PBKS at home earned him a rare losing effort POTM.
A half-century against RR earned Virat his first POTM, while a clutch 4/33 from Hazlewood to leave RR 11 runs short of 206 runs earned the Australian his moment of glory too.
Romario Shepherd's explosive 53* in just 14 balls during the last two overs against CSK gave Caribbean some POTM representation too, as his effort lifted RCB to 213/5 when such a total looked out of reach. Jitesh Sharma's De Villiers-esque 85* against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to chase down RCB's highest total of 228 also gave him the award too.
During the Qualifier one against PBKS, when Suyash Sharma's 3/17 ran through the hosts in the middle overs and skittled them out for 101, the Delhi spinner also got the POTM honours.
-Half-centuries galore for RCB
A total of 10 half-centurions emerged for RCB this season, with Virat, Salt, England's young all-rounder Jacob Bethell, Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh, Krunal, David, Shepherd and Liam Livingstone reaching the milestone. For the first time, a team had 10 different half-centurions in a single IPL season.
This was a sign of an extremely functional top and middle-order. While Virat (657 runs in 15 innings at an average of 54.75 with eight fifties) and Salt (403 runs in 13 innings at an average of 33.58, with four fifties) mostly provided the team with explosive starts, that tempo and consistency was maintained well by the rest of the batters consisting of Padikkal (247 runs in 10 matches at an average of 27.44, with two fifties), Patidar (312 runs in 14 innings at average of 24.00 with two fifties), Jitesh (261 runs in 11 innings at an average of 37.28 with a fifty), David (187 in nine innings at an average of 62.33 with a fifty) and Romario Shepherd (70 in three innings at an average of 35.00 with a fifty).
Mayank Agarwal, who stepped in as an injury replacement for Padikkal, also hit 99 runs in four innings, including a crucial 41* against LSG and vital 24 in the finals.
Even underperforming stars like Livingstone (112 runs in eight innings with a fifty at an average of 16.00 and Krunal (109 runs in seven innings at an average of 18.16 with a fifty) had at least a high or two.
That means, RCB could kiss the jokes about a once non-existent batting line-up after Virat and two-three of their marquee foreign players goodbye as everyone contributed.
-A sensational bowling line-up which produced clutch moments
RCB had a powerful pace attack, being among top three pace attacks in IPL 2025 with 64 wickets at an average of 26.04, economy rate of 9.41 and strike rate of 16.5. Above them in wickets are: Sunrisers Hyderabad (66 wickets at an average of 27.78, economy rate of 9.65 and a strike rate of 17.2) and Mumbai Indians (79 wickets at an average of 24.93, economy rate of 8.99 and a strike rate of 16.6). They were among the three pace units with 60-plus wickets.
Hazlewood (22 wickets in 12 matches at an average of 17.54, with best figures of 4/33), Bhuvneshwar (17 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 28.41, with best figures of 3/33), and Dayal (13 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 36.15, with best figures of 2/18) timed their breakthroughs to perfection right from match one to the final. Be it Hazlewood producing absolute magic at powerplay and death, Bhuvneshwar producing laudable comebacks or Dayal delivering his slower ones, RCB's execution was top class.
Romario Shepherd (six wickets in seven innings at an average of 25.16 with best score of 2/14), Ngidi (four wickets in two matches at an average of 20.25 with best of 3/30) and one wicket each from Nuwan Thusara and Rasikh Salam were the supporting acts in the pace department.
Among the spinners, Krunal continued to prove why he is rated so high among all cricketing experts, ending as the eighth-highest wicket-taker with 17 scalps at an average of 22.29, with best figures of 4/45. He squeezed top-class batters under pressure and his big match temperament was on full display in the final. Suyash served as a great support act, taking eight wickets in 14 matches at an average of 55.25 with an economy rate of 8.84.
-A world-class coach in Andy Flower and a brilliant support staff
Andy Flower, the former Zimbabwe cricketer who is now a top-rated name in the coaching circuit, along with batting coach and mentor Dinesh Karthik, headed the coaching staff.
Flower brought to a team, a belief of winning a big one, having won the T20 World Cup 2022 and three Ashes Test series with England, the World Test Championship (WTC), retained the Ashes, won WTC with Australia and secured numerous other franchise cricket league titles as a coach. Having powered RCB to the playoffs from a pathetic one win in eight matches in the first half last season, the self-belief instilled from a magical second half of the last season stayed intact.
Karthik as well was a fine mentor to all the players, particularly Jitesh, who even called him his "Guru". The spin bowling coach Malolan Rangarajan also put in plenty of work on Krunal and the backing of Suyash despite some expensive outings finally paid off with his outrageous effort in Qualifier one.
Coming to the match, PBKS won the toss and elected to bowl first. Arshdeep Singh (3/40) and Kyle Jamieson (3/48) applied timely breaks with the ball, while Yuzi Chahal (1/37) also prevented batters from attacking. While Virat Kohli (43 in 35 balls, with three fours) tried to keep the innings together, skipper Rajat Patidar (26 in 16 balls, with a four and two sixes), Jitesh Sharma (24 in 10 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Liam Livingstone (25 in 15 balls, with two fours) upped the attack enough to help RCB post 190/9 in 20 overs.
In the run-chase, PBKS started well with Priyansh Arya (24 in 19 balls, with four boundaries) and Prabhsimran (26 in 22 balls, with two sixes) stitching a 43-run stand. Josh Inglis (39 in 23 balls, with a four and four sixes) and Shashank Singh (61* in 30 balls, three wins and six sixes) tried their level best to keep up with the rising run rate, but Krunal Panddya (2/17), Yash Dayal (1/18) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/38) put a fine show with the ball to restrict PBKS to 184/7, despite a sensational 22 runs smashed by Shashank in the final over while needing 29.
RCB's win marks the end of a long wait, while PBKS, in their second-ever final and first in 11 years--will have to continue their search for a maiden title.