RCB ended their 18-year trophy drought on Tuesday.
Ahmedabad witnessed historic scenes on Tuesday night as Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) clinched their maiden title in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Led by Rajat Patidar, they defeated Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 final by six runs to etch their name in history books.
It was an emotional night for Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and every RCB fan, who has stood by the franchise for 18 years. They had an incredible run in IPL 2025, winning 11 games and losing only four times. The brain behind this epic campaign was Andy Flower, their head coach.
This is the man who has done wonders in the T20 arena. He has a long list of accolades that puts him on the top when it comes to the best T20 coaches in the world. Flower, who had won the T20 World Cup with England in 2010, had his first taste of franchise cricket in 2020.
The former Zimbabwe legend made an immediate mark as Multan Sultans made it to the PSL playoffs for the first time, topping the table. The following year, they won their maiden title under his guidance. St Lucia Kings (formerly known as Zouks) had reached CPL playoffs only once before Flower took over as the coach. In 2020 and 2021 seasons, they made back-to-back finals. He also won the titles with Trent Rockets (The Hundred 2022) and Gulf Giants (ILT20 2023).
Andy Flower was appointed as the RCB head coach in August 2023, and in less than two years, he has done the unthinkable. So what made him achieve this feat with RCB that no other coach had been able to?
IPL 2024 for Flower was more about getting the hang of the things as he had to operate with an available set of players. When the opportunity came to rebuild the squad, it wasn’t a surprise RCB retained only three players.
Under Flower’s watchful eye, the team think-tank put in a great effort in the IPL 2025 mega auction. While most other teams ran after big names, something RCB had done previously, they focused on acquiring players for specific roles. The result was seen in the tournament as multiple players stepped up for RCB at different points. They had eight different ‘Player of the match’ winners in their squad.
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Phil Salt was brought in to provide the fast starts, and he did just that. The Englishman struck at 176 in the season while amassing over 400 runs. Jitesh Sharma, in the middle order, also had a licence to go hard from the first ball, and he scored at 176.
Tim David, the designated finisher, missed the last few games but was key in the league stage, striking at 185. Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal also batted with high intent. Flower built a batting unit that had most of the bases covered, and was fast-scoring.
One of the biggest issues for RCB in the past has been their bowling. Despite having strong batting units, bowlers leaking runs ended up bringing their downfall. In IPL 2025, Flower built an excellent T20 attack with defensive bowling being the common factor.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Krunal Pandya have been two of the best defensive bowlers in the league. Krunal was one of the top spinners in the season, and delivered a match-winning performance in the final, picking 2 for 17. Yash Dayal was retained, and he did a pretty good job. Suyash Sharma, the fast leg-spinner, was vital in a few games. Josh Hazlewood was the X factor of the attack, with his remarkable control and extra bounce.
Having broken the 18-year long jinx, Andy Flower has assembled a squad to win more titles in future and create a legacy with RCB.
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