let that sink in for a second
18 years of memes. 18 years of "ee sala cup namde" becoming a joke. 18 years of watching Kohli carry underperforming teams to nowhere. then back to back titles in two seasons and Kohli personally hitting his fastest ever IPL fifty in a final to seal it
the bowling attack this season was genuinely frightening. Hhzlewood has now never lost a white ball final in his career. Bhuvneshwar, Rasikh, Krunal who has somehow won every single IPL final he has ever played in. five of them now. this wasn't luck, this was a team built properly at auction and executed perfectly by Patidar
but here's my actual take that's going to annoy people.
GT had no business being in that final. Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan both gone inside the powerplay, Washington Sundar top scoring with a 50 in a final, Rashid Khan giving you two wickets but your batting folding for 155. that's not RCB being great, that's GT bottling it on the biggest stage.
RCB deserved to win. but the conversation about whether this team is genuinely elite or just the best of a weak playoff field is worth having
only CSK and MI have defended the title before