Iqbal Abdulla

ANALYSIS
Entrusted with bowling in the Powerplay, Abdulla struck first ball against the formidable Brendon McCullum and followed it up three balls later with the wicket of Aaron Finch. Abdulla appeared to screw up the timing of both batsmen with slight turn, as an orthodox bowler is wont to do, and while his remaining three overs were boundary-laden, he made up for it in the pursuit of 158. RCB similarly lost its Top 3 batsmen by the end of the fourth and stumbled to 68/6 with 62 balls remaining, at which point AB de Villiers found a willing partner in Abdulla. In reality, Abdulla required a scolding from captain Virat Kohli on eight off 14 to get de Villiers on strike in the 15th, and the RRR soon took a precipitous drop with back-to-back boundaries from the South African. Abdulla proceeded to add a six and three fours down the stretch, helping clinch a spot in the IPL final for Royal Challengers with 10 balls to spare.