Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman and current Delhi Capitals (DC) assistant coach Shane Watson reminisced about the heart-wrenching final of the Indian Premier League 2016 edition against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and stated how the final over, bowled by him, broke him.
Virat Kohli was blazing fire with the bat in the 2016 edition of the T20 carnival IPL. The former captain had scored 973 runs in that season with the help of four centuries. Meanwhile in the final, chasing 209 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), RCB came close to victory with half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle, but David Warner led SRH eventually won the match and the Trophy after winning the match by 8 runs.
The turning point of this final match was the last over of RCB, which was bowled by Shane Watson, and in that over itself Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) scored 24 runs, which turned out to be the big difference between win and loss for RCB.
Apart from Kohli, Shane Watson also performed brilliantly throughout that season, but in the final he gave away 61 runs in his quota of four overs without taking any wickets, which proved to be too costly for the team, after which the Australian all-rounder broke down and was scattered.
Shane Watson said on the Delhi Capitals podcast that he was broke after the IPL 2016 final with RCB. He added that he knew it meant a lot for RCB to win, especially after doing so well throughout the season.
He further added that, apart from the team’s best performance, Virat Kohli was on fire with the bat and he had the best chance of winning the coveted IPL title as one of the greatest players and captain but unfortunately they lost the match and said that he was a broken man after that last over.
“Virat in particular was on fire. It was his chance, one of the greatest players, to win that elusive IPL title as captain. And bowling that one over just shattered me,” said the now Delhi Capitals’ assistant coach.