IPL 2016 Final: RCB or SRH, who will be the first time winner?

You can’t think of more understated bowlers in this IPL than Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal, both from Uttar Pradesh, split on either half for the final. They don’t inspire dread when they mark their run-up. They don’t harass the batsmen with nasty balls or befuddle them with outrageous swerve or spin. They’re, especially in the T20 sense, of limited weapons in their ken. Bhuvneshwar is not express pace, doesn’t have a deceptive bouncer or a plethora of slower deliveries. Likewise, Chahal doesn’t procure alarming side spin or has a bagful of nuclear-tipped weapons. Neither has he the more conventional skillset like flight, loop and drift.
But still, they have been exceptionally consistent, not just in this IPL, where the leggie has whittled out 20 wickets from 12 matches and the medium-pacer 23 from 16 outings, but in the past seasons too. Chahal had snared 23 in the previous season while Bhuvneshwar’s wreckage in the past reads 18 in 2015 and 20 in 2014. The Meerut-born medium pacer has embodied discipline — best signified by the 147 dots he has logged in — unwavering with his line and length and almost invariably gets a breakthrough in the powerplay. His death-bowling too has improved much, and in fact has added a few yards to his pace, which is most encouraging as swing and pace is a deadly cocktail.
Chahal’s greatest gift is his courage. The courage to toss the ball — and toss the ball even if he gets struck. As his economy rate (8.10) suggests, he can at times bleed runs, but he bargains wickets in the process. He, in fact, has the best strike rate (13.55) of any bowler who has bowled more than 18 overs in this league. This he manages with subtle changes in length and pace, which normally ranges anywhere between 85 kmph and 95 kmph. It’s not a dramatic change in pace, but it upsets batsmen when a bowler constantly changes both his pace and length. And unlike most others of his ilk, he hardly pitches short. It’s almost the intrinsic curse of a leggie — the proclivity to slip in the odd short ball — but Chahal hardly ever gives the batsman that release shot. Catering to his aggressve traits is a captain as aggressive. No wonder he had progressed by leaps under Kohli — in fact earning an India call-up — after RCB brought him for just Rs 10 lakh in the 2015 auction. Meanwhile, his economy rate, too, has progressively decreased, from 8.66 last year.

Due for runs

Of the eight editions he has been part of the IPL, this by far has been Chris Gayle’s least prolific season — that is just 151 runs from nine innings, the highest being 73, against the shoddiest attack of the league. He, meanwhile, had taken a break to celebrate fatherhood, and his return has been spoiled by off-field scandals. But undermining his threat is akin to shooting yourself in the foot, for Gayle could unleash all that bottled-up fury on hapless bowlers and reduce the match to a lop-sided contest. The burly Jamaican hasn’t looked out of sorts or anything, just that he has found means to get out. But if his stars align, he could take RCB to their first ever title, as well as ease a little pressure on the shoulders of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, RCB’s chief protagonists this season.
His former RCB teammate, Yuvraj Singh, has been sailing in the same boat, though he has shown more vital signs of reviving his form of the old. He has made a couple of 40s, a 39 and a clutch of other promising starts. But Sunrisers would crave for more decisive performances and better returns for the money they have shelled out (Rs 7 crore) for procuring his signature. Would Yuvraj deliver? If he does, that could not only help Sunrisers to their maiden title, but also could help him not elapse the radar of the national selectors.

News from bench

Sunrisers will be keeping their fingers crossed on the fitness of Mustafizur Rahman, who had missed, and was missed, in the qualifiers against Gujarat Lions.

Final live on Sony SIX/Sony ESPN, 7:00 Pm