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Royal Challengers Bengaluru were very close to the title that season and with Virat Kohli at his prime, everyone expected the franchise to finally lift a much-coveted title.
Ben Cutting celebrates after dismissing Chris Gayle in the IPL 2016 final (Picture credit: AFP)
Former Australia all-rounder Ben Cutting on Wednesday took a sarcastic dig at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, sharing a clip of his 15-ball 39-run innings from the IPL 2016 final, where the Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Virat Kohli’s side by just eight runs to win their maiden title.
Bengaluru were very close to the title that season and with Kohli at his prime, in a season where he scored a record 973 runs, everyone expected the franchise to finally lift a much-coveted title.
But a poor bowling effort meant that Bengaluru conceded 208 runs fielding first and, at the end, fell short by a bare margin.
“Keep getting tagged in these edits, one of the great career highlights, thank you”, Cutting extended his gratitude towards the individual who posted the reel.
In the final that was played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, with a golden opportunity for Bengaluru to lift their first title in front of a home crowd, Hyderabad skipper David Warner won the toss and opted to bat.
He and Shikhar Dhawan added 63 runs for the opening stand before the latter was dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal. Warner and Moises Henriques then built a 34-run stand for the second wicket before Chris Jordan dismissed the latter.
Reduced to 174/7 in the penultimate over, Cutting began an onslaught to take Hyderabad to a whopping 208.
In the chase, Chris Gayle and Kohli built a 114-run opening partnership before Cutting intervened again and dismissed the former. There were no more considerable stands after that as the Aussie allrounder’s figures of 4-0-35-2 meant Bengaluru lost their third IPL final.
Cutting deservedly walked off with a Player of the Match award.
The Australia all-rounder was last seen in action last month at the International Masters League. Cutting scored 88 runs in four matches in the tournament at an average of 29.33 and a strike rate of 149.15.
Cutting last played an international match in September 2017, representing the World XI against Pakistan in the Independence Cup in Lahore.
RCB, meanwhile, have still been chasing the elusive IPL trophy and while they have qualified for quite a few playoffs over the past seasons, the final spot has remained away from them.
