TimesofIndia.com at Ahmedabad: Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) pace attack once again proved why Rajat Patidar rated it as the best in the tournament. Consistently sticking to tight lengths and forcing the Gujarat Titans (GT) batsmen into mistakes, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Rasheek Salam Dar tore through the top order to put the opposition on the mat.On the eve of the match, Rajat Patidar praised Bhuvneshwar, Hazlewood, Duffy and Dar for bowling the length of a Test match in T20 cricket. At the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday, the trio shared seven wickets between them and blasted GT by a fair length.“If you want to win the competition, you need a good bowling attack. And taking wickets is important because scoring 200-220 is easy on this track. 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 good length balls.Bhuvneshwar, who has received many accolades this season, including the great Sachin Tendulkar, was on the money with one ball. He challenged Gayle with an ungarner, which the GT skipper tapped at mid-off. He then threw a jaffa that almost kissed the outer edge of the gill. However, Gill bounced back with a brilliant cover drive.
RCB’s Josh Hazlewood and teammates celebrate taking a wicket. (ANI Photo)
Hazlewood, who replaced Jacob Duffy in the third over, followed a similar plan. To counter RCB’s tactics, Gill decided to charge into Hazlewood. The Australian pitched it short and Gayle gave it a boundary at deep mid-wicket. But Hazlewood stuck to the plan and dismissed his man on the very next ball.Gayle danced down the track again but this time the ball was not so low. He lobbed it in the air and RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, patrolling mid-off, covered enough ground to send his counterpart back to the pavilion.Bhuvneshwar then dismissed Sai Sudharsan beautifully. A ball earlier, he had seen Sai charge down the track and dug it short, forcing the batsman to run away. The next delivery was again short and this time Sai went for the pull but failed to control the shot.Wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma ran to his right and completed a brilliant catch. The previous delivery was called a no-ball, making it the first legal delivery of the over. Bhuvneshwar braced himself, bowled another bumper and got the reward.Dar, who has quietly been the third wheel of RCB’s pace trio and removed the unsung hero, Nishant Sindhu. Like Gill and Sudharsan before her, Sindhu decided to continue down the track after being kept in check by the wily seamer. The right-hander watched the batsman closely and saw Sindhu’s advance and hit him short. The Haryana all-rounder tried to break loose but instead bowled it straight to Devdutt Padikal at long-on.The Jammu and Kashmir fast bowler, who plies his trade for Baroda in domestic cricket, has taken 19 wickets this season. While most of the spotlight has been on Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashikh has quietly stepped up and delivered whenever called upon.“The way Rashikh has come into the team and achieved success is important because you cannot win a tournament or a match with just one or two bowlers. Rashikh has bowled throughout the tournament and is helping the team,” Patidar had said.Rashikh finished with figures of 3 for 27.GT Washington could have lost Sundar too. Duffy tested the Indian all-rounder with a quick bouncer. Washington attempted a pull shot and mistimed it, but Jordan Cox was unable to finish the catch cleanly as the ball got caught between the fingers of both hands. It stayed off the ground for a long time, but eventually cleared the grass.That bit of luck saved GT and Washington, otherwise the home side would have been 63 for 4 at the halfway mark. GT scored 155 for 8, courtesy of 50 not out from 37 balls. The total was never enough against a strong RCB batting unit.The final, and their entire 2026 campaign, was a reminder that batting wins you games but bowlers will help the tournament get closer.
