RCB hitting the straps at right time

There are many aspects that constitute the making of an IPL champion: balanced line-up, quality match-winners, inspirational captaincy and, of course, luck.

However, there’s another key factor that has been a common thread between IPL winners over the last three seasons: peaking at the right time.

That’s something the Royal Challengers Bangalore have done to perfection this season, thus ensuring that they battle for the title with seemingly unstoppable force.

Over the last three seasons, the franchise that has found the winning momentum in the latter phase of the league stage has gone on to grab the title. In 2013, champions Mumbai Indians won five out of their last six assignments in the nine-team league stage. Kolkata Knight Riders made victory look like a child’s play in their last seven league games in 2014, after losing five of the first seven. And, in 2015 as well, MI once again got over the line in seven of their last eight outings in the pool stages after surrendering five of their initial six clashes.

This season, Virat Kohli & Co have endured a similar path in their quest for a maiden IPL title. RCB looked clueless in the first half of the season, winning only two of their first seven matches mainly due to their spineless bowling attack.

However, once their bowling fell into place, and Kohli took it upon himself to give fillip to the sinking ship, the turnaround began. Almost faced with must-win situations in every game thereafter, the Bangalore boys notched up four victories in a row (six in the last seven), some of them so emphatic that they finished second on the points table.

With that kind of run behind them, there was a sense of inevitability when they took field in the Qualifier 1 against Gujarat Lions here on Tuesday. Thus, despite being down in the dumps at 29/5 chasing 159, RCB found a way (read AB de Villiers) to get past the opposition and storm into their third IPL final.

That’s what momentum can do. That’s what a winning habit can do. That’s what self-belief can do.

“Peaking at the right time personally and also as a team is very important, not just in IPL but in any form of cricket,” RCB batsman KL Rahul said here on Friday. “It’s very important to re-group and stay focussed (during losing streak), and it brings the team together when you’re nowhere and end up being in the top two. That gives the confidence in the team, and each player starts believing in one another. The friendship and self-belief among the group becomes different, and that’s what helps a team become a champion team.”

In fact, Australia are staunch believers in peaking at the right time. They call it ‘tournament play’, and use the theory in major events like the World Cup.

Brett Lee, former Australia pace bowler who has played in IPL from 2008 to 2013, believes it becomes more crucial to hit fifth gear at the right time in a tournament like IPL.

“If you peak too early, you win the first six matches, it looks great. But then you lose the last five matches and then you're out in the bottom of the tournament. So it’s all about timing. It's about momentum, and riding that momentum,” Lee told dna.

That’s where a team like Delhi Daredevils faltered this season. They were sitting pretty at the top at around the half-way mark, and then saw their form take a nosedive to eventually crash out of the tournament. They peaked too early, hit the purple patch too soon.

For RCB, it was the other way round, and their fortunes reversed as well. Come Sunday, they would hope the three-season trend stays true for one more.

ART OF PEAKING

Below is how IPL champions over the last three seasons performed in their league encounters...

2015: MI

L, L, L, L, W, L, W, W, W, W, W, L, W, W

2014: KKR

W, L, W, L, L, L, L, W, W, W, W, W, W, W

2013: MI

L, W, W, W, L, L, W, W, W, L, W, W, W, W, W, L

N ZONE

6
No. of matches Royal Challengers Bangalore won out of their last seven in the league stage this season, including all of their last four