TimesofIndia.com in Ahmedabad: Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) pace attack once again proved why Rajat Patidar rates it among the best in the tournament. Sticking relentlessly to hard lengths and forcing Gujarat Titans’ (GT) batters into errors, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Rasikh Salam Dar ripped through the top order to put the opponents on the mat.On the eve of the match, Rajat Patidar had praised Bhuvneshwar, Hazlewood, Duffy and Dar for bowling Test-match lengths in T20 cricket. On Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the trio shared seven wickets between them and blew away GT with precise lengths.“If you want to win the competition, you need a good bowling attack. And it’s important to take wickets because on this track it’s easy to score 200-220. But defending 200-220 is more difficult. So you need a better bowling side,” Patidar had said.Gujarat Titans’ top three, Shubman Gill (10), Sai Sudharsan (12) and Nishant Sindhu (20), all fell to deliveries pitched on a good length.Bhuvneshwar, who has attracted a lot of praise this season, including from the great Sachin Tendulkar, was on the money from ball one. He challenged Gill with an inswinger, which the GT captain tapped down to mid-off. He then bowled a jaffa that almost kissed Gill’s outside edge. However, Gill bounced back with an exquisite cover drive.
RCB’s Josh Hazlewood and teammates celebrate a wicket. (ANI Photo)
Hazlewood, who came on to bowl the third over in place of Jacob Duffy, followed a similar plan. To counter RCB’s tactics, Gill decided to charge at Hazlewood. The Australian pitched it short and Gill swatted it over deep midwicket for a boundary. But Hazlewood stuck to the plan and got his man off the very next ball.Gill again danced down the track but this time the ball wasn’t short enough. He ended up lobbing it in the air and RCB captain Rajat Patidar, patrolling mid-off, covered plenty of ground to send his counterpart back to the pavilion.Bhuvneshwar then dismissed Sai Sudharsan with a beauty. A ball earlier, he had seen Sai charge down the track and dug it in short, forcing the batter to sway away. The next delivery was short again and this time Sai went for the pull but failed to control the shot.Wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma ran to his right and completed an excellent catch. The previous delivery had been called a no-ball, effectively making this the first legal delivery of the over. Bhuvneshwar backed himself, bowled another bumper and earned the reward.Dar, who has quietly been the third wheel of RCB’s pace trio and the unsung hero, removed Nishant Sindhu. Like Gill and Sudharsan before him, Sindhu decided to advance down the track after being kept in check by the wily seamer. The right-armer watched the batter closely and banged it in short upon seeing Sindhu advance. The Haryana all-rounder attempted to cut loose but instead flat-batted it straight to Devdutt Padikkal at long-on.The Jammu and Kashmir pacer, who plies his trade for Baroda in domestic cricket, has picked up 19 wickets this season. While most of the spotlight has been on Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh has quietly stepped up and delivered whenever called upon.“The way Rasikh has come in and done for the team, giving those breakthroughs, is important because you cannot win the competition or matches just with one or two bowlers. Rasikh has bowled throughout the tournament has been superb and it’s helping the team,” Patidar had said.Rasikh finished with figures of 3 for 27.GT could have lost Washington Sundar as well. Duffy tested the India all-rounder with a sharp bouncer. Washington attempted the pull shot and mistimed it, but Jordan Cox failed to complete the catch cleanly as the ball got stuck between the ring fingers of both hands. It stayed off the ground long enough, but eventually brushed the grass.That slice of luck saved GT and Washington, otherwise the home side could have been reeling at 63 for 4 at the halfway stage. GT scratched their way to 155 for 8, courtesy of a feisty 37-ball 50 not out. The total was never likely to be enough against a formidable RCB batting unit.The final, and their entire 2026 campaign, was a reminder that batting can continue to win you games but the bowlers will help close tournaments.
