Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings aims for their first IPL title in 18 year history of the tournament (Image Credit:- X)
Eighteenth season of Indian Premier League all set for grand finale at Narendra Modi Stadium , Ahmedabad. Two best teams of the season Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings aims for their first IPL title in 18 year history of the tournament.
Punjab Kings top the points table in league stage with 19 points from 9 wins in 14 matches. They lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Qualifier 1 and beat Mumbai Indians in qualifier 2 to qualify for the final.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru on other hand reached second spot after the league stage with 9 wins in 14 matches. They slipped to second spot because of lower net run rate than Punjab Kings. They beat Punjab Kings in qualifier 1 to qualify for the final.
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Punjab hugely thanks to the leadership quality of their captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Ricky Ponting to reach the final. They managed well to inspire their uncapped players well to perform on the ground.
In most of the matches Punjab played with 6 uncapped players in Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya (Openers) , Shashank Singh and Nehal Wadhera (Middle order batters) and Vijayakumar Vyshak and Harpreet Brar (bowlers).
Virat Kohli who had an outstanding season yet again with the bat desperate to win an IPL Trophy on the 18th season. He scored 614 runs in the season averaging 55.81 with strike rate of 146.53. He holds the record of most 500 plus runs scored in IPL seasons (8 times).
RCB’s Tim David suffered a hamstring injury while playing league match against Sunrises Hyderabad missed their last 2 matches. It is still uncertain about his participation in the final. For Punjab Kings except Yuzvendra Chahal all other players are available.
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“There are a lot of youngsters in our team, you got to see their fearless nature. Right from ball one, they dictated terms and they are still doing it. Some or the other player has stepped up in every game and put their hands up to say ‘I will win the match for the team’ and that has happened. This is why our season has been consistent,” Shreyas Iyer said.
“I have always tried to create a good environment for every player, who has come from a domestic background or international experience. They both feel the same,” RCB captain Rajat Patidar said.
RCB Probable XII:- Virat Kohli , Phil Salt , Mayank Agarwal , Rajat Patidar (c) , Liam Livingstone , Jitesh Sharma (wk) , Romario Shepherd , Krunal Pandya , Bhuvneshwar Kumar , Yash Dayal , Josh Hazlewood , Suyash Sharma.
Punjab Kings Probable XII:- Prabhsimran Singh , Priyansh Arya , Josh Inglis (wk) , Shreyas Iyer , Nehal Wadhera , Shashank Singh , Marcus Stoinis , Azmatullah Omarzai , Kyle Jamieson , Arshdeep Singh , Harpreet Brar , Vijaykumar Vyshak.
Match will begin at 07:30 PM (IST).