The RCB success story: All method and a dose of luck

Ahmedabad: T20 cricket and endurance may sound paradoxical, but no IPL title is won without being ready for a long haul. More so when you throw in numerous complexities, from player availability, form and fitness with many of them punishing their bodies with all-format workloads. Add the unexpected momentum-breaker due to the week-long suspension this year, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) should be truly proud of their winning campaign.
If 2024 was their turnaround season where they conjured up magic with a string of late wins to make the playoffs, this year was one of absolute dominance.
Salt-Kohli partnership
The signs were there in the very first game against Kolkata Knight Riders when Phil Salt's aggression (SR 180) allowed Virat Kohli (SR 163) to ease into his innings. Show intent but play strokes where he could hold his shape. It's a template the two openers maintained for the rest of the tournament, except for a brief spell when Salt was unwell and young English batter Jacob Bethell replaced him.
The secret to Kohli's T20 longevity has revolved around the maverick players who have batted around him. It was Chris Gayle and AB de Villers in the past. To his credit, Salt's 403 runs (SR 176) to Kohli's 657 runs (SR 145) was just the ideal mix RCB sought from their openers.
Josh Hazlewood
At ₹12.5 crore, Josh Hazlewood was their most expensive auction pick. The Australia pacer set an early marker that the onus was on him to make the high impact performances.
Not just in the big final where he troubled Punjab Kings openers in the Powerplay, throughout the tournament Hazlewood would bang it short of good length, extracting seam movement to become the middle overs enforcer. On days when the pitch was flat, he would be the first to spread the word in the bowling group that it was a day to use more mix-ups.
Towards the end of the league phase when Hazlewood wasn't available, twice in a row RCB were taken for 200-plus totals – Ishan Kishan (94 - 48b) did the damage for SRH and Rishabh Pant (118 - 61b) for LSG. It showed how central the tall Aussie was to their bowling efforts in the season.
Jitesh Sharma
But what defined RCB's spirited season was how they always found someone to stand up to reverse the tide. In reply to Pant's explosive innings, Jitesh Sharma (85 - 33b) played the innings of his life. The wicket-keeper bat would play immense shots under pressure, unlocking a gear even he didn't know he possessed. His filling the big boots of Dinesh Karthik the finisher with a little help from Karthik the coach was one of the storylines of RCB's campaign.
Rajat Patidar
The RCB captain would have liked to be more consistent, but in many matches, he was the spin-hitter with his usual sparkle. Take the early match against KKR's quality spin attack and how his cameo eased the pressure in the middle overs.
Most importantly, Patidar the batter at no stage was weighed down by the high-profile job of leading RCB. 'You can't underestimate the calmness he showed in leading some really big players, a really big franchise, making good decisions out there in the middle under the pressure that RCB players play under,' head coach Andy Flower said.
'Injury replacement to IPL-winning captain, bloody hell, that's a turnaround,' as Kohli said in a RCB video.
Krunal Pandya
Few would have predicted that Krunal Pandya, the left-arm spinner with a penchant for the surprise bouncer and round-arm deliveries, would become RCB's second highest wicket-taker – 17 to Hazlewood's 22. Be it the four-for against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede or the miserly 2/17 in the final at Ahmedabad, Krunal this year was willing to give the ball air every time conditions allowed.
Although it wasn't his best season with the bat, when everyone else failed against DC, he held his own with 73*. Experience is not bought in the supermarket, goes the saying, but if you think of the auction as a marketplace, RCB did the smart bidding.
Destiny
Sporting conquests are incomplete without a bit of luck. If not for the forced break due to the India-Pakistan conflict, Hazlewood wouldn't have got the time to recover from a niggle. Also Patidar, who had a hand injury. Jitesh led in Patidar's absence.
How can any RCB fan not believe in providence? Not after 17 failed attempts. The RCB story was a lot of method, and a dose of luck too.

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