Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 1 : Following his side's back-to-back Indian Premier League (IPL) title win, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Krunal Pandya expressed happiness at his franchise becoming only the third team to achieve the feat, saying that "every IPL trophy is special".
Krunal became one of the IPL's most well-accomplished players, securing his fifth IPL title, his second back-to-back title with RCB and played a crucial role in his team's success. Before this, he had secured three IPL titles with the Mumbai Indians (MI).
In 16 matches this season, Krunal scored 226 runs in nine matches at an average of 37.66 and a strike rate of 145.80, with a fifty and best score of 73. He also took 14 wickets at an average of 30.55, with best figures of 2/16. In the final, he bowled an economical spell of 1/23 in four overs.
Speaking after the match, Krunal said, "There is no doubt about it, every IPL trophy is special. It's like having kids, right? You cannot pick (which one is more special). Similar with IPL trophies because everything is so hard-earned. I am so glad and grateful that in 11 years, to have five trophies, it's pretty special for me."
On RCB's transformation over the last two seasons, he credited the coaching and support staff of Dinesh Karthik, batting coach and mentor, Director of Cricket Mo Bobat and head coach Andy Flower.
"The way they prepared before the auction also last year and the way they set the team, right? The balance of it. Sometimes, half of the battle is won in the auction. I guess they did a pretty good job. And then eventually, it was on us to go out and deliver. And yeah, glad that we were able to have the hold on the trophy back-to-back. All these 18 years of waiting and then winning two back-to-back trophies, this is for the RCB fans. Wherever we have gone, they have supported us. And obviously for Virat as well, pretty special. Having two back-to-back trophies. It is amazing," he signed off.
Put to bat first by RCB, GT scored just 155/8 in 20 overs, with Washington Sundar (50* in 37 balls, with five fours) and Nishant Sindhu (20 in 18 balls, with three fours) being the only one to cross the 20-run mark. Rasikh Dar Salam (3/27), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/29) and Josh Hazlewood (2/37) took wickets regularly.
RCB started off well with a 62-run stand between Venkatesh Iyer (32 in 16 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and Virat Kohli. GT showed some fight, reducing RCB to 132/5 at one point, but Virat (75* in 42 balls, with nine fours and three sixes) guided RCB to a win with two overs left. This is RCB's second IPL title win and overall their fourth Indian franchise cricket trophy, including two Women's Premier League (WPL) titles.