Rajat Patidar on Sunday etched his name into Royal Challengers Bengaluru history as he became the captain to lead the franchise to their first-ever Indian Premier League title. After defeating punjab Kings by a narrow margin of 6 runs, Patidar dedicated the triumph to Virat Kohli and all the fans.
“I think it is really special for me and special for and all the fans who have supported for years. They deserve it. After the Qualifier 1, at that time we thought we could do this. I think 190 was a good score on this track because it was a bit slow. The way bowlers executed their plans was tremendous to watch,” he said at the post-match presentation.
The captain also lauded gamechanger Krunal Pandya whose spell swung the momentum in ’s favour snapping up a well-set Prabhsimran Singh and Josh Inglis even as they were looking ominous.
“He’s a wicket-taking bowler. Whenever I come under pressure, I look for KP. Suyash also bowled really well throughout the season. And all the fast bowlers – Bhuvi, Yash, Hazlewood and the way Romario came in and the way he gave 2-3 overs and the breakthrough was special,” he said.
The 32-year-old said that he had a great learning experience as captain from Virat Kohli and thanked the fans.
“For me it’s a great opportunity to do captaincy under him and it was a great learning for me. As I said he deserves it more than anyone else. Virat Kohli and all the fans. Everyone who has supported – the management, support staff – the way they’ve supported the players was beautiful. I just want to say one line for the fans – Ee sala Cup Namdu,” he said.
In the match, Bengaluru posted a modest 190-9 with Kohli, their leading scorer this season, top scoring for them with a composed 43.
It was, however, their lion-hearted bowling which secured their win after they restricted Punjab to 184-7 despite Shashank Singh’s unbeaten 61 off 30 balls.
Kohli was in tears once he realised Bengaluru were about to shed the underachiever’s tag that has stuck to them since the inaugural 2008 edition of the league.
