Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood were the big boys in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) bowling attack, but away from the glare, Krunal Pandya and Rasikh Salam made massive contributions in their IPL 2026 title win. While Salam finished with 19 wickets - four more than Hazlewood - with an economy rate of 9.45, Krunal bagged 14 wickets at an economy rate of 8.41
In the final against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Sunday, Salam struck on the final ball of his second over to get Nishant Sindhu for 20 and stunt GT's recovery. He finished with 3 for 27, and was even on a hat-trick at one stage.
"I think he has done his job throughout the season in a very quiet fashion, but he has given them that stability of that third seamer," Varun Aaron said of Salam on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show. "He has picked up wickets, which is most important in today's game. Again, he does it today [in the final]. Three wickets in the final at an economy of under seven [6.75] - you'd take that any given day."
Salam played in 12 of RCB's 16 matches this season, and completed his quota of four overs in eight of those games. On all of those 12 occasions, he was brought on either as first or second change after Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood were given the new, hard ball. Aaron felt Salam's variations did the job for him.
"I think the fourth seamer is generally somebody who is more defensive," Aaron said. "He has a good yorker, [and] bowls a really good slower ball. Bowls a couple of good slower balls. Bowls the knuckle [ball]. Bowls [from the] back of the hand. So he comes in in that role, and also picks up wickets. With the way IPL is going now, being defensive is almost offensive."
Tom Moody, meanwhile, felt Salam was the "beneficiary of three very, very good bowlers in front of him" - apart from Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood, Jacob Duffy bowled the first or the second over for RCB six times this season.
"He's not coming in and having to break the game open - because the game is already open," Moody said. "He then comes in and does what he does exceptionally well - great changes of pace. So he's a perfect foil for the spearheads they've got at the top."
'Krunal an unbelievable package'
Krunal had an all-round impact for RCB. Apart from his 14 wickets, the allrounder got 226 runs at an average of 37.66 and a strike rate of 145.80. It was Krunal's fifth IPL trophy overall - he won three with Mumbai Indians (MI) before being part of RCB's back-to-back title wins - and Moody said his experience of 158 IPL matches was key.
"You're looking for packages like him. Not just a bowler, he's a top-six batter [as well]," Moody said of Krunal. "He's a batter that plays well under pressure. He has got a bank of experience. So he's an unbelievable package."
Aaron said Krunal "doing something different" with the ball - bouncers, for example - stood out.
"I think he's mentally very skilful because he knows who to bowl which ball to, which is very important," Aaron said. "He knows who's trying to attack him where. I think he's very, very astute when we talk about his game plans, [and] when we talk about how he goes about even his batting.
"His batting plans are amazing. If he feels somebody is bowling into him - if you're bowling around [the wicket] to Krunal - you'll see a lot of the times he shuffles to the off stump. He picks you up. He's always busy. He's doing something different, and that's what the game requires now if people are going after you - because everybody is trying to go after spinners, especially fingerspinners. What he has done is unbelievable."