Indian Premier League Final: How Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Rasikh Dhar beat GT away with professional bowling

TimesofIndia.com in Ahmedabad: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)’s pace attack once again proved why Rajat Patidar rates them among the best in the tournament. By relentlessly sticking to the tough overs and forcing errors from Gujarat Titans (GT) players, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Rasikh Salam Dar tore through the top order to put opponents on the mat.On the eve of the match, Rajat Patidar praised Bhuvneshwar, Hazlewood, Duffy and Dar for their Test bowling match lengths in T20 cricket. On Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the trio shared seven wickets between them and blasted GT by minute lengths.“If you want to win the competition, you need a good bowling attack. It is important to take wickets because on this track it is easy to score 200-220. But defending 200-220 is more difficult.

So you need a better bowling team,” Patidar said.Gujarat Titans’ top three, Shubman Gill (10), Sai Sudharsan (12) and Nishant Sindhu (20), all fell to good-wicket deliveries.Bhuvneshwar, who has attracted a lot of praise this season, including from the great Sachin Tendulkar, was on the money from the first ball. He challenged Gilles with an inswinger, which the GT captain then tapped to the middle. Then he threw Jaffa, which almost kissed Jill’s outer edge.

However, Gill bounced back with a great cover drive.Hazlewood, who came on to bowl the third ball in place of Jacob Duffy, followed a similar plan. To counter RCB’s tactics, Gill decided to attack Hazlewood. The Australian pitches it short and Gill hits it over deep midwicket for a boundary. But Hazlewood stuck to the plan and got his man off the next ball.Jill danced again down the track but this time the ball wasn’t short enough.

He ended up throwing the ball in the air and RCB captain Rajat Patidar, who was patrolling the midwicket, covered a lot of ground to send his counterpart to the pavilion.Bhuvneshwar then dismissed Sai Sudharsan beautifully. Earlier, he saw Sai rush down the track and dig it short, forcing the batsman to swing away. The next delivery was again short and this time Sai went for the pull but failed to control the shot.Wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma ran to his right and completed an excellent catch.

The previous delivery was called a “no-ball”, making this the first legal over-the-top delivery. Bhuvneshwar backed himself up, bowled another bumper and got the bonus.Dar, who was quietly the third wheel of the RCB pace trio and an unsung hero, removed Nishant Sindhu. Like Gill and Sudharsen before him, Sindhu decided to step up the track after being marked by the wily seamer. The right-armer watched the batter closely and batted him short on seeing Sindh’s progress.

The Haryana all-rounder tried to clip the ball but instead hit it flat straight to Devdutt Padikkal at long off.The Jammu and Kashmir pacer, who plies his trade with Baroda in domestic cricket, has taken 19 wickets this season. While most of the spotlight was on Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh quietly stepped up and delivered whenever he was called upon.“The way Raseek came in and what he did for the team, giving those breakthroughs, is important because you can’t win the competition or games with just one or two players.

“Raske’s performance throughout the tournament has been fantastic and he is helping the team,” Patidar said.Rasekh finished with 3-for-27 numbers.GT could have lost Washington Sundar as well. Duffy tested the Indian all-rounder with a sharp bouncer. Washington attempted and mistimed a shot, but Jordan Cox failed to complete the catch cleanly as the ball got stuck between the fingers of both hands. He stayed off the ground long enough, but eventually he touched the grass.This slice of luck saved GT and WA, otherwise the home team would have been reeling at 63 for 4 at the halfway stage. GT batted their way to 155 for 8, thanks to a feisty 37-ball 50 not out. The total was never likely to be enough against RCB’s formidable batting unit.The final match, and the entire 2026 campaign, was a reminder that batting can still win matches but bowlers will help close out tournaments.