Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood were the leading names in Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s bowling unit, but behind the spotlight, Krunal Pandya and Rasikh Salam carried huge portions of the workload as RCB lifted the IPL 2026 title. Salam finished the campaign with 19 wickets—four more than Hazlewood—while keeping things tight with an economy rate of 9.45. Krunal, meanwhile, produced a strong wicket haul of 14 wickets at 8.41 per over.
In the title match against Gujarat Titans on Sunday, Salam made a crucial breakthrough on the final ball of his second over by removing Nishant Sindhu for 20, halting GT’s momentum and disrupting their comeback. He ended with figures of 3 for 27 and was even in contention for a hat-trick during the spell.
Commenting on Salam’s impact, Varun Aaron said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show that the pacer “has done his job throughout the season in a very quiet fashion,” while also giving the side “stability of that third seamer.” Aaron added that the most important factor in modern T20 cricket is wicket-taking, and praised Salam for delivering again in the final. He highlighted that the four-over spell came with three wickets at an economy below seven (6.75), calling it something teams would gladly back in any match.
Salam featured in 12 of RCB’s 16 games during the season, completing his full quota of four overs in eight of those appearances. In each of those 12 matches, he was introduced as either the first or second change once Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood had faced the early overs with the new ball. Aaron suggested that Salam’s ability to vary his pace and approach helped him consistently find breakthroughs in that role.
“I think the fourth seamer is generally somebody who is more defensive,” Aaron said. “He has a good yorker and bowls a really effective slower ball—he can bowl a couple of good slower balls, uses the knuckle ball, and he can also bowl from the back of the hand. So he comes in with that sort of assignment, and at the same time he picks up wickets. With the way the IPL is moving now, being defensive is almost becoming offensive.”
Tom Moody, on the other hand, felt Salam benefited from the quality of support around him. Moody described him as “the beneficiary of three very, very good bowlers in front of him,” pointing out that alongside Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood, Jacob Duffy delivered the first or second over for RCB on six occasions across the season.
“He’s not walking in and trying 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 becomes a perfect counterpoint for the strike bowlers they have at the top.”
Krunal also made a major all-round contribution for RCB. Besides his 14 wickets, he scored 226 runs with an average of 37.66 and a strike rate of 145.80. It was Krunal’s fifth IPL title overall—he had previously won three with Mumbai Indians before adding back-to-back trophies with RCB—and Moody believed his experience from 158 IPL matches played a decisive part.
Moody described Krunal as a rare type of player, saying, “You’re looking for packages like him. Not just a bowler—he’s a top-six batter as well. He’s a batter who performs well under pressure. He has a huge store of experience, so he’s an unbelievable package.”
Aaron pointed to the way Krunal altered his bowling as another factor behind his success, noting that his use of bouncers, among other variations, stood out.
“I think he’s mentally very skilful because he knows exactly which ball to bowl and how it fits the situation, and that’s really important,” Aaron said. “He understands who is trying to attack him and where. I think he’s very, very astute when it comes to his game plans—both in how he bowls and even in how he approaches batting. His batting plans are amazing. If he feels someone is bowling into him—if you’re bowling around the wicket to Krunal—you’ll often see him shuffle to the off stump. He picks you up, he’s always busy, and he’s doing something different. That’s what the game demands now when batters are going after you, because everyone is looking to attack spinners, especially finger spinners. What he has done has been unbelievable.”
