It’s the final that not many people would have predicted at the start of the season, but it’s also one of the most eagerly anticipated in a long time.
In my opinion, every Indian Premier League final should be an essential watch, but here are five reasons why this could be one for the ages.
A first-time winner of the IPL is guaranteed after Punjab Kings beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in the second qualifier on Sunday to set up a tantalising final with Royal Challengers Bengaluru – live on Sky Sports+ and Sky Sports Mix.
Live IPL
Tuesday 3rd June 1:40pm
New champion
Whatever happens, we will have a new champion. Something these two franchises have in common is that they have been badly mismanaged over the years.
RCB’s ‘Galactico era’ got them a lot of fans but fitting Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers, and Chris Gayle into the same team meant the bowling was underpowered, and it is hard to win trophies without a gun attack.
It’s no coincidence they have got to their first final in nine years by ditching that plan – Kohli remains, but he now has a bowling Galactico to back him up in Josh Hazlewood and a much more balanced squad.
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A first-time winner of the Indian Premier League is guaranteed after Punjab Kings beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in the second qualifier to set up a tantalising final with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Punjab have just consistently made poor decisions at the auctions – you rarely looked at their squad and felt they would be competing at the back end of a season.
And this is where these two franchises differ. RCB are the IPL ‘nearly men’ – they’ve got to three finals and come up short every time.
The Kings’ record, though, is nothing short of horrendous – this is just the third time in 18 years that they’ve made the playoffs, and their only final was back in 2014. Both have different histories and journeys, but if either win, it will be a big story.
Kohli mania
Virat Kohli is Mr RCB. He has never played for another T20 franchise, and I doubt he ever will.
While the other superstars came and went, it took RCB 18 years to realise that you only need one superstar, as long as it’s Virat.
Year in, year out, he churns out the runs and, unlike other batting greats of the era, he’s remained in the elite echelon of T20 batters even though the game is constantly changing and evolving.
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Highlights of the IPL match between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru as Virat Kohli’s half-century helped RCB secure a top-two finish
Most neutrals in India would love to see him finally get his hands on the one big trophy that has eluded him, and you can expect a big outpouring of emotion if he does.
We won’t see him in Test cricket anymore or at a T20 World Cup, so we need to appreciate watching this genius while we still can. It’s unclear how much more IPL he will play, but I can’t see him doing a Dhoni and playing well into his 40s.
Kings are an excitement machine
Punjab Kings are one of the most exciting batting units in recent memory. They’ve scored over 200 eight times this season – the joint most ever – and they come into the final having chased down the highest score by any team in the playoffs.
When they fail, though, they do so spectacularly – they’ve been bowled out for 111 and 101 this season. What is fascinating about their batting is that it has been driven by uncapped, in some cases unknown, Indian players.
Shreyas Iyer has had a magnificent season, but four of the Kings’ five top scorers are yet to play for India. Most franchises spend heavily on at least two big-name overseas batters, Punjab have done it a different way and that deserves a lot of credit.
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Highlights of the IPL play-offs game between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru
RCB are the English IPL team
If you are an English cricket fan, you probably should be supporting RCB.
Phil Salt is a key man for them, Liam Livingstone has been an almost ever-present despite poor form, and Jacob Bethell sparkled briefly before heading back to England.
Director of Cricket Mo Bobat spent 12 years at the England and Wales Cricket Board and Andy Flower is basically an honorary Englishman after his time coaching the national team.
Punjab are coached by Ricky Ponting and have had no less than six Australian overseas players in their squad. It’s the Ashes before the Ashes.
It could get feisty
While these teams don’t exactly hate each other, there has been some needle earlier in the season, especially when Kohli celebrated wildly in Iyer’s face after RCB won in the group phase.
RCB then destroyed Punjab in one of the most one-sided first qualifiers ever, so Iyer will be desperate to re-assert his credentials as a captain when it matters most.
If he does, it will mean he has led two different franchises to IPL glory in successive years. If India want to split the Test and white ball captaincy – which in my opinion they should – then Iyer could be a great option to captain the T20 side.
He’s got to at least be in the conversation, it would be crazy if he wasn’t.
Watch the Indian Premier League final live on Sky Sports+ and Sky Sports Mix from 2.50pm on Tuesday. Stream cricket with NOW
