PBKS feel the pinch of Salt

The RCB-PBKS final had several defining moments - the dismissal of Shreyas Iyer (for one off two balls) and Player of the Match Krunal Pandya's tight four-over spell (in which he claimed two crucial wickets giving away only 17 runs) for instance. But there seemed to be a sort of agreement between the coaches of the two sides that the real turning point in RCB's six-run win was Phil Salt's sensational catch of Priyansh Arya. Andy Flower and Ricky Ponting felt that boundary line pluck may well have upended the title-clash on its head.

"I think you probably have to give some credit to Phil Salt's catch. That could have been a pretty critical moment in the game. We know how dangerous he (Arya) has been through the tournament, particularly in the first-six overs. That was a great piece of fielding," Ponting, the head coach of Punjab KIngs, said looking back.

Arya had given Punjab a blazing start in their chase of 191. The left-hander had raced to 24 with four confident boundaries before Salt produced a moment of brilliance at the deep backward square leg fence. Running toward the rope, Salt caught the ball on the run and realising that he would cross the fence, he tossed the ball up. He caught it on re-entering the field to complete a stellar pouch. "Sometimes, these 20 over games can be decided by a piece of brilliance like that," Ponting remarked.

Arya was one of the batting mainstays of the Punjab team, having amassed 475 runs at a strike rate of 172.69. He had given their chase initial impetus. A flurry of boundaries in the first two overs had taken Punjab total to 23 for none. RCB stemmed the run flow by giving away only nine runs in the next two overs.

Arya then smashed two brilliant boundaries off Josh Hazlewood's second over and went for the third boundary when Salt intervened with his brilliance. The wicket came against the run of play and Punjab total read at that stage 43 for 1.

"That was an outstanding catch," Flower remarked. "I thought it was a perfect example of someone holding his nerve under pressure. It took a while to get to him. He knew that he was moving towards the boundary. And to stay that calm under that sort of pressure in a final to get our first wicket was an amazing piece of fielding from him and also just holding his nerve."

After Qualifier 1, Salt had gone home and returned to India early hours of Tuesday to take part in the IPL final. Besides, Salt is primarily a wicketkeeper and for him to judge the catch so well was incredible.

"You know, he only got back from England at 3 o'clock this morning. He's been an outstanding batter and fielder for us throughout the season. He's taken a couple of catches like that through the season. He works really hard at it. I think he'd actually prefer to keep wicket, but he was outstanding. And a turning point, obviously," the RCB coach said.

Punjab Kings eventually made 184 for 7, giving RCB their first-ever IPL title in 18 years and four attempts.