Andy Flower: The man behind conclusion of RCB's IPL title quest, a 'man of firsts' for several teams

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], June 4 (ANI): Former Zimbabwe cricketer and multi-time trophy-winning coach added perhaps the biggest trophy of his franchise cricket coaching career as he helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) lift their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title after defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six runs in a thrilling final at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday.
After ending as Zimbabwe's top run-getter in international cricket with 11,580 runs with 16 centuries during his playing days from 1992-2003, Flower has earned as much success as a coach, guiding top-class Australia and England sides and several T20 teams to championship glory.
As England's team director in the late 2000s to early 2010s, he secured an Ashes series win by 2-1 at home and the Three Lions' first-ever major world title, the ICC T20 World Cup 2010 under the captaincy of Paul Collingwood. Two more Ashes series win in 2010-11 (a historic 3-1 drubbing of Australia in their own territory) and in 2013 (by 3-0 at home) followed.
In the third edition of Abu Dhabi T10 back in 2019, he guided Maratha Arabians to the title, with experienced T20 campaigner and West Indies icon Dwayne Bravo at the helm of things on the field.
The decade of the 2020s brought Andy massive success, as he teamed up with Pakistan's star batter Mohammed Rizwan to seal Multan Sultans' first-ever Pakistan Super League (PSL) title, beating Wahab Riaz-led Peshawar Zalmi by 47 runs in the final.
Even adapting to the format of The Hundred competition in the UK did not affect Flower much tactically as he took Lewis Gregory led Trent Rockets to glory, beating Manchester Originals in a close title clash in 2022.
After some franchise cricket success, a Pat Cummins-led Australia decided to rope in Flower as an assistant coach leading up to the ICC World Test Championship final against India. Australia brought home the Test mace, completing world title wins in all formats and also retained the Ashes after a 2-2 draw in the UK.
He was also the part of the coaching staff which travelled to India for the 2023 World Cup and came back home with the sixth title, making his association with Aussies as his most accomplished one, with trophies in both major formats of cricket, Tests and ODIs.
Following this win, he took part in the 2023 International League T20 season in the UAE, securing the title with the Gulf Giants under the captaincy of England international James Vince.
Now, finally, Flower, 'the man of firsts' for many teams, ended RCB's quest for the maiden IPL title. Several superstars of the game, like Virat Kohli, Josh Hazlewood, Tim David, Phil Salt, etc., came together to fulfill this dream.
Coming to the match, PBKS won the toss and elected to bowl first. Arshdeep Singh (3/40) and Kyle Jamieson (3/48) applied timely breaks with the ball, while Yuzi Chahal (1/37) also prevented batters from attacking. While Virat Kohli (43 in 35 balls, with three fours) tried to keep the innings together, skipper Rajat Patidar (26 in 16 balls, with a four and two sixes), Jitesh Sharma (24 in 10 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Liam Livingstone (25 in 15 balls, with two fours) upped the attack enough to help RCB post 190/9 in 20 overs.
In the run-chase, PBKS started well with Priyansh Arya (24 in 19 balls, with four boundaries) and Prabhsimran (26 in 22 balls, with two sixes) stitching a 43-run stand. Josh Inglis (39 in 23 balls, with a four and four sixes) and Shashank Singh (61* in 30 balls, three wins and six sixes) tried their level best to keep up with the rising run rate, but Krunal Panddya (2/17), Yash Dayal (1/18) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/38) put a fine show with the ball to restrict PBKS to 184/7, despite a sensational 22 runs smashed by Shashank in the final over while needing 29.
RCB's win marks the end of a long wait, while PBKS, in their second-ever final and first in 11 years--will have to continue their search for a maiden title. (ANI)