Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their second consecutive IPL title in the final against the Gujarat Titans. The king and chase machine, Virat Kohli, stood at one end and did what he knows best in the world. There were more than 90,000 people at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad who witnessed this miracle with their own eyes. In the 18th over, Kohli hit a six over long-on off a delivery from Arshad Khan, sealed a five-wicket win over the Gujarat Titans and wrote a script that he had admitted he had in his dreams many times before.
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Gujarat Titans by five wickets in the IPL 2026 final.
- Virat Kohli was not out on 75 off 42 balls.
- By batting first, the Gujarat Titans gave RCB the target of 155.
- Rasikh Salam took 3 wickets, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood also took two wickets each.
- RCB became the third team after Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians to defend an IPL title.
Gujarat Never Managed to Break Free
Finals are always a high-pressure game. RCB’s bowling lineup destroyed the top-order batsmen of the Gujarat Titans. They didn’t give the batsman room and time to settle on a pitch. Sai Sudharsan survived an early scare when RCB appealed, and the umpire gave him out. He took the DRS, and there was no contact of bat and ball in the UltraEdge. This was a sigh of relief.
But soon this relief turned into a nightmare when Josh Hazlewood dismissed Shubman Gill for 10 runs, and after a few balls, Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent Sudharsan back to the dressing room. Then Nishant Sindhu was promoted up the order. Jos Buttler tried to control the situation. The trouble was that RCB never loosened their grip. Jitesh Sharma stumped Buttler after he made 19. Sindhu followed. Arshad Khan briefly threatened to change the mood with a quickfire 15 from six balls, but Hazlewood struck again. Only Washington Sundar looked comfortable on the batting side of Gujarat.
His not-out 50 off 37 deliveries dragged Gujarat to 155/8, a total that at least gave them something to defend. According to The Times of India, it was another example of a side showing the qualities of champions, with deadly bowling in the action in the most important game of the season.
Kohli and Iyer Made Their Intentions Clear
The target was not big, but we have all seen teams defending low-scoring matches in Ahmedabad. RCB was well aware of this fact. Virat Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer came out to open for RCB. The openers attacked Kagiso Rabada, the second-highest wicket-taker in the TATA IPL 2026, in the powerplay. Later, Kohli revealed the message he passed on to Iyer.
“I just told him one thing: we need to kill the game in the power play.” The Iyer’s reply was “Yeah, let’s go.” This sense of clarity was clearly evident in their game. Iyer scored 32 runs off just 16 balls, helping Bengaluru reach 70 for 2 within the first six overs of the power play. Mohammed Siraj took the early wicket of Iyer for Gujarat. Rabada also joined him with the wicket of Devdutt Padikkal. This was not sufficient to stop RCB. The defending champions were playing like a side that knew exactly where the finish line was.
Rashid’s Over Changed the Game for a While
If Gujarat had a window back into the contest, it arrived when Rashid Khan came to bowl his spell. The Afghanistan spinner dismissed Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya within four deliveries. RCB suddenly found themselves at 91/4. For a small time, the noise inside the stadium was low. But the biggest positive for RCB at that moment was that Kohli was at the crease. As reported by Sky Sports, the former India captain reached his half-century in just 25 balls, the fastest IPL fifty of his career and his 68th in the IPL. There were boundaries when they were available.
There were singles when the pressure was needed to take off. There was no panic, no rush and no sign that Kohli intended to leave the result to anyone else. Tim David’s useful 24 off 17 and a 41-run partnership with Kohli took RCB one step closer to the trophy. A report from ESPNcricinfo described how Kohli maintained his composure even when he knew the win was theirs.
The Post-Match Conference of Virat Kohli
🚨 VIRAT KOHLI DREAM FULFILLED 🚨
Virat Kohli Said 🗣️,Well, it’s the stuff that you dream of. I’ve thought of this moment many times, that, you know, once when we win the IPL, I should be standing there hitting the winning runs and tonight it was possible. So yeah, just a…
— lndian Sports Netwrk (@IS_Netwrk29) May 31, 2026
The most revealing part of the night came after the match. In a post-match conference, he said: “It’s stuff that you dream of.” “I’ve thought of this moment many times… that once when we win the IPL, I should be standing there hitting the winning runs. Tonight, it was possible.” “So yeah, just a dream day for us.
And as I mentioned straight after the game as well, we just felt really relaxed coming to the game today and really confident about how we wanted to go about our game and what kind of team we have.” “And that gives you confidence to just, you know, see any kind of situation through. But yeah, in a chase, I felt really comfortable out there knowing exactly what to do.”
“We knew we were the Best Team
Who noticed virat doing that shot of century type action with tongue during hitting the six 😜pic.twitter.com/NWWjH2zjlr
— Prateek Rai🦅 (@Prateekrai56299) May 31, 2026
Kohli’s unbeaten 75 from 42 balls contained nine fours and three sixes. It earned him the Player of the Match award and gave him another final performance to add to an already remarkable career. After the presentation, he spoke with the confidence of someone who believed he had earned this title long before the final. “We knew what kind of ability we have in the group.”
“We topped the table, and there’s a reason why we got here first.” “It was a clinical performance right throughout the tournament.” According to BBC Sport, Kohli also reflected on how younger players have pushed him to adapt his game. “You have these super young players pushing you all the time and asking you to change your game and up the ante.” “It’s an exciting situation because it gives you something to improve on.”
RCB are No Longer the Nearly-Men
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For years, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru have been trying to win the trophy. The finals lost in 2009, 2011, and 2016 often followed the franchise around. Even when they had some of the biggest names in world cricket, they did not win a trophy. This narrative has completely changed for RCB. They are now 2-time IPL champions. As highlighted by Olympics.com, only the Chennai Super Kings and the Mumbai Indians had successfully defended an IPL title before this season. RCB have now joined that club.
More importantly, they no longer look like a side hoping things will fall into place. They look like a team expecting to win. The bowlers delivered. The batting unit handled the chase. The experienced players stepped up. The squad depth showed again. And when the moment arrived, the player who had given nearly two decades of his career to the franchise was there to finish the job himself.
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Sources and References
- The Times of India – RCB has truly shown the qualities of a champion.
- Sky Sports – Virat Kohli made his fastest half-century in the IPL.
- BBC – Virat Kohli appreciated how the young players in the team helped him adapt to the modern-day T20 game
- ESPN Cricinfo – Kohli didn’t lose his temper in the final.
- Olympics – RCB has now joined the club of defending an IPL title along with CSK and RCB.
