By Bharath Ramaraj
Planning. Precision. Execution. These three words were synonymous with how Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s pacers went about their task in the PowerPlay overs of Qualifier 1 of the 2025 Indian Premier League game against Punjab Kings. Around 28 of the 36 deliveries were on a length or back of a length, alongside one short ball ushered in by Josh Hazlewood. Somewhere the RCB camp had understood that there was tennis-ball bounce and a hint of nip for the pacers to take advantage of in Mullanpur, and they utilised it. By the end of the seventh over, PBKS were already reeling at 52 for 5.
It was once again Hazlewood who spearheaded the RCB pace attack. Returning to action after a small break, Hazlewood put on a masterclass in how to execute simple but effective plans. Shreyas Iyer’s dismissal is a case in point. He just pounded the deck hard on a length and extracted extra bounce. He also found a hint of movement and the line was just outside the off-stump. Meanwhile, Iyer tried a premeditated hoick across the line and could only edge it to the ‘keeper. In other words, Hazlewood just allowed the conditions to do its job.
Even for Josh Inglis, it was about sticking to the basics. He once again found some awkward bounce and the ball hit the bat hard on impact. On expected lines, it got big on Inglis and the willow turned in his hands. The resultant outcome was an easy catch for the fielder at long leg. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal also whittling away at the opponent, RCB were well on top at the completion of eight overs.
PBKS, however, still had the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Shashank Singh in the middle. RCB needed someone to provide the finishing touches to the bowling effort, and it was Suyash Sharma who turned out to be the trump card. The wrist spinner has been an unsung hero for RCB. He was the one who put a spanner in MI’s works in a high-scoring game last month, going at just eight an over. In another of those high-scoring matches versus RR at the Chinnaswamy, he kept a tight leash on the scoring rate, finishing with an economy rate of just under eight.
In Qualifier 1, he went one better, bagging three wickets. With PBKS’ batters looking to up the ante, they took chances against Suyash and faltered. Two of those wickets were dismissed via the googly as Shashank and Stoinis attempted ungainly hoicks.
On a night where everything went right for RCB, nothing went in favour of their opponent. From the toss event to the winning run being scored, it was RCB all the way. PBKS’ batters tried to hit their way out of trouble on a deck that offered just enough assistance for the bowlers. Even after losing a wicket or two, they didn’t recalibrate their approach and look for a total of around 160.
Their woes continued with the ball in hand. Thanks to Kyle Jamieson, PBKS found a lot more swing when compared to RCB – 1.3-degree average swing for the Punjab side in comparison to .7-degree average swing for their opponent. But despite PBKS generating more swing, Arshdeep Singh banged it short a few times. Once more PBKS were not flexible enough to tweak their tactics as per the prevailing conditions.
Long back in 2010, in the T20 World Cup final played between England and Australia, the former were ruthless with the ball as they coasted to a victory. One certain Andy Flower was the coach of that England set-up. In the years to come, be it England’s 4-0 Test series win at home versus India, beating Australia twice in the Ashes in England, and their historic triumphs in Australia and India, one of the hallmarks of that side under Flower was the precision with which the plans were executed.
Even after Flower moved over to coaching franchise set-ups in T20 cricket, teams like Multan Sultans, Trent Rockets and Gulf Giants have gone on to hoist trophies. And now RCB are on the verge of their epoch-making moment – Maiden IPL trophy. In Qualifier 1, we saw yet more evidence of how an Andy Flower-managed side implemented their strategies close to perfection. The Rajat Patidar-Flower-Virat Kohli-Hazlewood axis may very well do the same in the summit clash.