RCB vsPBKS
They've come close so many times, and now, at the 18th attempt, they're IPL champions. An incredible finish to this final, with Shashank hitting Hazlewood for 6, 4, 6, 6 to finish, but it all came in vain, because the first two balls of the over, with 29 needed at the start, were dot balls. Shashank finishes on an unbeaten 61 off 30 balls. What a season, and what an innings to finish, but it will be of no consolation either to him or to PBKS, because it's all about RCB now. They've won by six runs, and that margin reflects how closely matched these two sides are, but it's also a little deceptive because so many of those runs came after RCB had sealed victory.
It's a sign of how far T20 has come that 190 beats 184 is a bowler-dominated game. PBKS did brilliantly to restrict RCB to 190, but RCB's bowlers were even better, and used their experience to telling effect. I don't know who'll get the Player of the Match award, but Krunal Pandya has to be a frontrunner.
It's been a terrific final, with so much ebb and flow to it, at the end of an outstanding season. It's a pity that one of these two brilliant teams had to lose today.
With that, I'll leave you and rush off to start on the match report. I'm doing this sitting at home in Bengaluru, and I can hear the fireworks going off. What a day for the city. How long they've waited for this.
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