LUCKNOW, June 5 -- While Rajat Patidar-led and Virat Kohli-backed Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) lifted their maiden Indian Premier League trophy on Tuesday night, for Uttar Pradesh's Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal, it was the second time that they shared the dais with their teammates in the cash-rich league. While Bhuvneshwar was part of the winning Sunrisers Hyderabad team in 2016, Yash bowled for the 2022 title-holders Gujarat Titans. RCB's first title win, which came after a wait of 18 years, was well deserved. Even after scoring under 200 runs, they managed to pull off a stunning six-run win over the favourites, Shreyas Iyer-led Punjab Kings, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Both Bhuvneshwar and Yash deserve special praise for their good showing. While ageing pacer from Meerut Bhuvneshwar took 17 wickets in 14 matches at an average of 28.41, Prayagraj's Yash bagged 17 wickets in 15 matches at an average of 36.15. Bhuvneshwar has, so far, taken 198 wickets in 190 IPL matches; the latter has 41 wickets in 43 matches to his name. "Uttar Pradesh has plenty of talent. From the very first edition of the IPL, there has been a consistent presence of state cricketers in the league," former Team India cricketer Gyanendra Pandey said on Wednesday. "Uttar Pradesh has been a fertile land for producing top-quality cricketers, even for Team India. There are 11 cricketers from the state who played for different franchises this season in the IPL," he further said. Besides Bhuvneshwar and Yash, Dhruv Jurel (Rajasthan Royals), Zeeshan Ansari (Sunrisers Hyderabad), Sameer Rizvi (Delhi Capitals), Kuldeep Yadav (Delhi Capitals), Vipraj Nigam (Delhi capitals), and Rinku Singh (Kolkata Knight Riders), Swastik Chikara (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) and Aryan Juyal (Lucknow Super Giants) are also from Uttar Pradesh. Talking of the performances of Uttar Pradesh cricketers, who remained part of the winning IPL sides so far, one finds former Team India batter Suresh Raina as one of the best performers. Raina has 5,528 runs in 205 matches at an average of 32.52. Aligarh's Rinku Singh is the second leading run-scorer in IPL for UP, scoring 1,099 runs in 59 matches at an average of 30.53. Among the bowlers, Bhuvneshwar leads the chart with 198 wickets, followed by Piyush Chawla (157), Kuldeep Yadav (102), RP Singh (90), Yash Dayal (41), Mohsin Khan (27) Sudeep Tyagi (six). Former India cricketer Mohd Kaif from Prayagraj tasted the title win in the very first IPL in 2008 when Rajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians by three wickets. Kaif, though he played in all the matches for the team, could only muster 176 runs at an average of 16. Kaif, who played four seasons of the IPL, ended his league career with just 259 runs in 29 matches at an average of 14.39. Rae Bareli's RP Singh, who went by the moniker Rae Bareli Express for his fascinating show in Pakistan in a Test series, was the second one from Uttar Pradesh to win the IPL trophy in 2009. While playing for Deccan Chargers, he took 23 wickets in 16 matches. Thereafter, Murad Nagar's Suresh Raina lifted the trophy for a record five times for the Chennai Super Kings. "Raina has always been a wonderful batter, and I was the one who got him selected to Team India after seeing his performance in only a few Ranji Trophy matches," said former Test cricketer and national selector Gopal Sharma on Wednesday. He also showered praises on Bhuvneshwar and Yash for their title-winning bowling for the RCB. "Undoubtedly, both the pacers gave their best and fashioned the team's maiden title win. I feel that Dayal has learnt the art of pace bowling in the shorter format of the game well, whereas Bhuvi used his experience to excel even though his sharp bowling is missing," said Sharma, an off-spinner of his time....