India batter Mayank Agarwal, who joined the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as Devudutt Padikkal's replacement during the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has played a crucial role for the franchise to clinch their inagural title, defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the final at iconic Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Mayank Agarwal's IPL 2025 performance
The Karnataka batter featured in four matches where he scored 95 runs with a highest score of an unbeaten 41. He also played a cameo in the title decider, scoring 24 runs in 18 balls, including two fours and one six. Months after the RCB win, Mayank recalled how Kohli's advice helped him shift the momentum of the game.
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Virat Kohli's advice to Mayank Agarwal
Agarwal revealed that New Zealand speedster Kyle Jamieson, who was featuring for PBKS, bowled a great over against him in the qualifier, and he eventually started the same in the title decider. Then Kohli advised him to attack the speedster on the square of the wicket, and that helped him to gain confidence and put pressure back on the opposition.
"It was nervy. In the qualifier, Kyle Jamieson had a good over at me, so in the final when he started again, Virat said, ‘He’s getting bounce and shape; look to attack him square of the wicket, not just past third man.’ Once the first boundary came, the confidence followed and we put pressure back. Phil Salt’s intent set it up. My role was to keep the momentum. If I could soak up the pressure and turn it back quickly, our partnership would flow, and it did" said Mayank Agarwal in RCB podcast.
IPL 2025 final
Coming back to the final, after being asked to bat, RCB managed to score 190 runs in 20 overs, where Virat Kohli was the highest run-getter with 43 off 35 as Arshdeep Singh and Kyle Jamieson rattled the batting unit of Bengaluru-based franchise with three wickets each.
While chasing, PBKS tried to get a good start before Josh Hazlewood removed Priyansh Arya, who scored 24 runs in 19 balls. All eyes were on their skipper, Shreyas Iyer, but he was cheaply dismissed after scoring one run, and later Shashank Singh fought hard to chase down the pressure, but Krunal Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's clinical bowling helped RCB to register a six-run win in the final to win their first-ever title.