AHMEDABAD: Virat Kohli was in tears near the deep midwicket boundary. He was in disbelief. Josh Hazlewood had delivered two dot balls in the final over, helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru become IPL champions — their first in 18 years. The one trophy Kohli and his team had been yearning for since the tournament's inception in 2008.
It did not matter that the next four balls went for 22 runs. Just as the final ball left Punjab Kings' batter Shashank Singh's bat, Kohli dropped down on his knees to be filled with tears. He buried his face, not wanting to get up. Captain Rajat Patidar and the rest of the team ran towards Kohli, embracing him as he got up. In 2025, one year after the women's team won their first-ever trophy in WPL, RCB men beat Punjab by just six runs to get their hands on the IPL trophy. "This win is as much for the fans as it is for the team. It's been 18 long years. I've given this team my youth, prime and experience. I've tried to win every season, gave everything I have. To finally have it (IPL crown) is an unbelievable feeling," an emotional Kohli said after the match.
It had seemed inevitable from the moment Shreyas Iyer nicked Romario Shepherd and walked back in the chase of 191. The belief only grew as Josh Inglis hit Krunal Pandya straight into the hands of the long-on fielder. But when Marcus Stoinis fell in the 17th over to Yash Dayal with 49 runs needed, the fate was sealed.
More than 90,000 fans found their voice, chanting ‘AAR SEE BEE’, their former player AB de Villiers was shown on the screen, inducing a cheer of ‘ABD, ABD, ABD’. And of course, the biggest star of all, Virat Kohli.
But on Tuesday, it was not Kohli or Josh Hazlewood or Phil Salt or Patidar who rose to the occasion. The actual hero of the final for RCB was Krunal, the man who now has been a part of four IPL victories (three with Mumbai Indians). Unfazed by the occasion, the street-smart spinner came in, bowled tight lines, took two crucial wickets, finishing with a championship-winning spell of 2/17 from four overs. By the time he was done, the mountain had become too steep to climb for Punjab.
However, it did not always look like RCB were going to win this. Not when Shreyas took an ice-cool catch to remove Phil Salt off Kyle Jamieson in the very second over in the first innings. Or when Kohli went into a shell in the powerplay while Mayank Agarwal and Patidar tried to keep the scoreboard ticking before getting out against the run of play. At the time, it felt like the occasion had gotten to them.
RCB wanted to approach it like any other contest, but they knew it would not be easy. Their fans had turned up in large numbers, comparable to India's support during the ODI World Cup final. Even the theatres in Bengaluru were showing the final in screens for the non-travellers to cheer on while Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka had put on the RCB jersey and released a video in support, showing how desperately they were longing for an IPL trophy.
Shreyas set the tone with the catch to remove Salt, and the rest followed. Yuzvendra Chahal removed their first spin-basher, Mayank Agarwal, and Jamieson hit it full on Rajat Patidar to remove three of the top four, who had been taking on bowlers through the season. It did come at a cost — RCB were 96/3 in 10.5 overs when Patidar fell — but Punjab remained calm. As wickets fell around him, Kohli got stuck. Till Patidar got out, he had played 22 balls, hit just two boundaries, while accumulating just 20 runs in as many balls. Over the next 24 balls, Azmatullah Omarzai, Vyshak Vijaykumar and Chahal conceded just two boundaries — a four and a six — and Kohli (43 off 35 balls) succumbed. He tried to pull Omarzai, top-edged, and the Afghan all-rounder ran towards midwicket to complete the catch.
From thereon, Jitesh Sharma tried his best to replicate what he did against Lucknow Super Giants, but Punjab kept hitting the hard lengths despite the boundaries that came off Jamieson and Arshdeep Singh. Vyshak eventually got rid of Jitesh for 25 off 15. Arshdeep delivered the final blow in the end, taking three wickets while giving away just three runs in the final over of the innings, as RCB got to 190/9. It was a competitive total, but not an unattainable target. However, Krunal and the rest of the RCB bowling attack stepped up to fulfil the long-awaited dream of millions of fans. Their roar echoed around the stadium — Ee Saala Cup Namdu (this year, the cup is ours). A Cup win that is bound to be etched in their memories forever.
Brief scores: RCB 190/9 in 20 ovs (Kohli 43, Patidar 26, Livingstone 25; Arshdeep 3/40, Jamieson 3/48) bt PBKS 184/7 in 20 ovs (Shashank 61 n.o, Inglis 39, Prabhsimran 26; Krunal 2/17)