The IPL will have a new champion tomorrow. And it is fitting that the top-two teams have made the final. They have indeed been the most consistent, and perhaps also the most deserving. Shreyas Iyer has turned a new leaf with his captaincy and his batting, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), as a unit, have outperformed almost every opponent.
Pressure. That’s what will decide the IPL from here on. Which team and management deals with pressure better? Who wants it more? Who can keep calm? Each team has men of quality and the line between error and a superhuman effort is very thin. That’s where handling pressure becomes the key. In a number of matches this season, we have seen teams win from impossible situations. The Punjab Kings (PBKS) against the Mumbai Indians (MI) was a good example.
To deny Jasprit Bumrah is as hard a job in cricket as there has ever been. It is near impossible for Bumrah to go for 38 off his 4 overs and not pick up a wicket. That’s what happened, and that’s what defined the Punjab effort. It was a match that MI had in control up until the 13th over, when Shreyas smashed three consecutive sixes off Recce Topley. He was in fact the hope, and he was up against a steep asking rate. And MI still had Bumrah. Bumrah, unfortunately, was unable to make things happen. In fact, it proved that he too is human! It happens to the very best, and that’s what makes sport what it is.
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In the match against RCB, it was the very same pressure that got to Punjab. From 30-3, there was no way back. Shreyas failed, and so did his team. Whether they only lost the battle and not the war will eventually be decided in Ahmedabad tonight. With Shreyas, one thing is for certain. He is a quick learner and will not make the same mistakes. He will know he has the firepower lower down to take things a little easy up front. He will know that RCB’s bowling is much about Josh Hazlewood. Much like Bumrah, Punjab need to handle Hazlewood to gain an upper hand. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal are okay, but they aren’t Hazlewood. It is the Australian speedster who has been key for RCB, and that’s what Shreyas will know and guard against. Play him out, and the game could be theirs.
For RCB, on the other hand, the time is now. Virat Kohli and the boys have waited the longest for their moment, and they are now within sniffing distance. In Andy Flower, they have as good a strategist as any, and he will be up against the mind of Ricky Ponting.
In every sense, it has been set up. Hope the weather doesn’t play spoilsport, for then it will be a shame. A final is not easy. Never is. But that’s what separates the men from the boys, and women from girls. The team that wins, from others who are good but not the best. It all boils down to pressure. It all boils down to who want the IPL title that little bit more. And aren’t anxious on the big night.
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