New Delhi: Rajat Patidar, who propelled Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the IPL finale on his very first rodeo as skipper, has said that the team is focusing more on process rather than results for the summit clash against Punjab Kings on Tuesday evening.
RCB have stormed into the IPL final after nine long years and are eyeing their maiden trophy that has eluded them for 17 years. They will be playing an IPL final for the fourth time, having finished runners-up in 2009, 2011 and 2016 to Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.
“It’s my first season as a captain. I’m lucky that I have our coaches and senior players. Their ideas are helping me a lot in this new leadership role. Everyone is happy, everyone is prepared. It’s a big stage, but we are taking it as just another game. It’s important to control the controllables. We are just focusing on our process rather than results, and it’s a big occasion,” Patidar said in a video posted by the franchise on X.
The Patidar-led RCB will hold an advantage over the PBKS as they thrashed them by eight wickets in Qualifier 1 in Mullanpur to seal the direct entry to the final. Both teams had finished first and second in the league stage, with nine wins, four defeats and one no-result each in 14 games.
“I’m extremely proud of the way the guys have handled themselves this season. It’s been a brilliant season to be part of, and we’ve played some outstanding cricket to get into the final. We’ve had very similar chats in the lead-up to other games, but also with an acknowledgement that this is a final. We’ve done a lot of hard work to get into this position, so we should enjoy it. There will be 100,000 people here, it’ll be nice and noisy, great atmosphere,” said head coach Andy Flower.
RCB director of cricket Mo Bobat added, “We’ve had a great season, and we feel like we deserve to be here. We’ve played this way throughout the whole season.”
Notably, PBKS have been in an IPL final only once before, in 2014 (when they were known as Kings XI Punjab) and lost to Kolkata Knight Riders. The 2014 season was also the only time that Punjab had made the playoffs since the concept was introduced in 2011.
For the first time since 2022, the IPL will have a new champion when RCB and PBKS lock horns in the summit clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
–IANS
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