Ahmedabad: Some narratives run larger than the sport itself. For years, debate raged on whether Lionel Messi would be able to win a World Cup. Would the talented duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown lift the NBA trophy? Would Rory McIlroy be able to complete the career Grand Slam? As it turned out, they all had it in them to win the ultimate prize in their sport. Messi went on to win the World Cup in 2022, Tatum and Brown guided the Boston Celtics to a record-setting 18th NBA championship in 2024 while McIlroy won the Masters to earn a career Grand Slam this year.
A similar narrative is taking shape here ahead of the IPL final between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Punjab Kings (PBKS). RCB’s white-ball colossus Virat Kohli has a 50- over World Cup win, two Champions Trophy titles and one T20I World Cup triumph to his name. But the missing cup in the cabinet is the Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy. RCB have reached the final thrice before this but come up short on all three occasions. Will Kohli be fourth-time lucky or will a Shreyas Iyer-inspired PBKS walk away with their maiden title?
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SUBSCRIBE NOW! Kohli and Phil Salt have been the ideal combination for RCB at the top, though the PBKS newball pair of Arshdeep Singh and Kyle Jamieson will pose a stern test. Mayank Agarwal has been steady at No. 3 and is followed by captain Rajat Patidar. The skipper has been aggressive from the word go.
His ability to take on spinners will be key against leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. The trio of Liam Livingstone, wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma and allrounder Romario Shepherd provide the fireworks down the order. The overs delivered by PBKS medium pacers Vijaykumar Vyshak, Azmatullah Omarzai and Marcus Stoinis will prove to be decisive. Tim David’s injury is a question mark.
Man to man, PBKS have a team to match RCB. Uncapped openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have been fearless in their approach at the top while Australian Josh Inglis provides the impetus at No. 3. Iyer is the glue that binds the team. His calmness will be crucial to this team. Australia’s premier pacer Josh Hazlewood, along with pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal, will look to test the PBKS top order.
Southpaw Nehal Wadhera in the middle order will be key to counter left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya and leg spinner Suyash Sharma. Lower-order batters Omarzai, Stoinis and Shashank Singh lend heft in the batting at the end overs.
Who's that IPL player?All in all, this looks like a contest in which the team that holds their nerve better will lift the trophy for the very first time.