"The whole country, not only RCB fans, wanted Virat to win": Kolhi;s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma on RCB's first IPL title

New Delhi, [India] June 4 (ANI): Rajkumar Sharma, childhood coach of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) star Virat Kohli, reflected on the long-awaited victory of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL final, and told that the win brought immense joy, as Kohli had consistently been the backbone of RCB since the IPL's inception, and the whole country celebrated Bengaluru win with him.

Finally, after 18 years, it is party time for RCB as a brilliant spell from Krunal Pandya and solid pace bowling from the trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, and Yash Dayal brought them their first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL) title with a six-run win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday.

"The whole country, not only RCB fans, wanted Virat should win this trophy. He (Virat Kohli) was very emotional, happy and excited because it was long-awaited and he was waiting for this moment for a very long time. He has been the most consistent batsman if you start from 2008; hardly any season would have been a failure for him. So, he has been a consistent player, he has been the backbone of RCB since the inception of IPL...We will celebrate in a big way," Rajkumar Sharma told ANI.

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Shashank Singh's brilliance (61* in 30 balls, with three fours and six sixes) proved inadequate for PBKS as the flush of shots came too late for the team. Shashank hit three sixes in the final over, not giving up the fight till the last.

PBKS won the toss and elected to bowl first. Arshdeep Singh (3/40) and Kyle Jamieson (3/48) applied timely breaks with the ball, while Yuzi Chahal (1/37) also prevented batters from attacking.

While Virat (43 in 35 balls, with three fours) tried to keep the innings together, skipper Rajat Patidar (26 in 16 balls, with a four and two sixes), Jitesh Sharma (24 in 10 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Liam Livingstone (25 in 15 balls, with two fours) upped the attack enough to help RCB post 190/9 in 20 overs.

In the run-chase, PBKS started well with Priyansh Arya (24 in 19 balls, with four boundaries) and Prabhsimran (26 in 22 balls, with two sixes) stitching a 43-run stand.

Josh Inglis (39 in 23 balls, with a four and four sixes) and Shashank Singh (61* in 30 balls, three wins and six sixes) tried their level best to keep up with the rising run rate, but Krunal Panddya (2/17), Yash Dayal (1/18) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/38) put a fine show with the ball to restrict PBKS to 184/7, despite a sensational 22 runs smashed by Shashank in the final over while needing 29. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)