Royal Challengers Bengaluru are IPL champions again. On Sunday evening at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad — the same ground where they won their maiden title just twelve months ago — RCB beat Gujarat Titans by five wickets to successfully defend their crown. With that victory, they joined an exclusive club that only Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians had previously entered: the club of teams that have won back-to-back IPL titles. It was written in the stars, and Virat Kohli made sure of it.
For a franchise that spent nearly two decades trying to win their first, winning two in a row feels almost surreal. But this RCB side, under Rajat Patidar’s calm and confident leadership, never looked like a team riding luck. They looked like champions who knew exactly what they were doing.
RCB’s Bowling Sets the Tone
Patidar won the toss and had no hesitation — Gujarat Titans would bat first. It was a decision that looked shrewd from the very first over.
GT’s openers started nervelessly enough, with Sai Sudharsan surviving a caught-behind decision off the first over after a DRS review overturned the on-field call. But that was about as good as it got for Gujarat in the powerplay. Shubman Gill, GT’s captain and their best batter through the tournament, was caught by Patidar himself off Josh Hazlewood in the third over. Bhuvneshwar Kumar accounted for Sudharsan in the very next over. GT were wobbling, and the asking rate was already climbing.
Nishant Sindhu was pushed up the order to add some stability, and Jos Buttler — the experienced international — arrived with the same intention. Neither could quite break free from the grip RCB had on the game. Sindhu made 20 off 18 before Rasikh Salam got rid of him, and Buttler was brilliantly stumped by Jitesh Sharma off Krunal Pandya’s bowling. At 73 for 4 after twelve overs, GT needed something special.
Arshad Khan tried to provide it — he smashed 15 off just six balls in an entertaining cameo — but Hazlewood came back to dismiss him and the resistance was short-lived. It was Washington Sundar who ultimately gave GT some respectability. The all-rounder played a composed, intelligent innings — 50 not out off 37 balls — to drag his side past 150 while wickets kept tumbling around him. GT finished on 155 for 8.
It was a good bowling performance from RCB, disciplined and purposeful. Rasikh Salam was the standout with 3 for 27. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood each picked up two wickets.
155 was a target. But on a good batting surface, with Virat Kohli padded up and ready, it was never going to be enough.
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Virat Kohli Takes Control
RCB’s chase started at a pace that immediately told Gujarat Titans the game would not go to the wire if Kohli had anything to say about it.
Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer walked out and immediately targeted Kagiso Rabada — the Purple Cap frontrunner, one of the most dangerous fast bowlers in world cricket. They smashed him for 37 runs across his first two overs. It was an extraordinary statement of intent in a final, and it set the tone completely.
The partnership was worth 62 runs before Mohammed Siraj pulled one back for GT, removing Iyer for a blistering 32 off 16 balls. Rabada then got Devdutt Padikkal the following over, and RCB ended the powerplay at 70 for 2. Still ahead of where they needed to be, but with wickets in hand becoming slightly more precious.
Then came Rashid Khan, and for a brief, nervy moment, the game shifted. In the ninth over, the Afghan wrist spinner dismissed both Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya within four balls to reduce RCB to 91 for 4. GT had found a way back in. The crowd was alive.
But Kohli was still there.
With Tim David alongside him, Kohli simply refused to let the innings lose momentum. He brought up his fifty off just 25 balls — the fastest half-century of his entire IPL career — and kept accumulating with the kind of calculated aggression that makes him the greatest white-ball batter of his generation. David was dismissed after a 41-run partnership that effectively closed the game, but by then the damage was done.
Kohli finished it off in style. On the final ball of the 18th over, with two overs still to spare, he cleared the long-on boundary with a six that brought the entire RCB dugout to its feet. Unbeaten on 75 off 42 balls — nine fours, three sixes — it was a masterclass in pressure batting when it mattered most.
RCB 161 for 5. Target achieved. Two overs unused. Five wickets to spare.
History Made, Again
The scoreline — GT 155/8, RCB 161/5 — tells you what happened. What it can’t fully capture is what this means.
RCB are now back-to-back IPL champions. This is their second IPL title overall and their fourth Indian franchise cricket trophy including two Women’s Premier League crowns. Rajat Patidar has now joined MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma as the only captains to successfully defend an IPL title. And Virat Kohli — in what continues to be one of the most remarkable careers in cricket history — has added another unforgettable chapter.
For the millions of RCB fans who waited years for that first title, two in a row might take some time to actually believe.