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Kohli and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are finally IPL champions

Published

12 months ago

2025/06/4

Priyan

Virat Kohli and silverware make quite the striking pair [BCCI]

Eighteen years spent in the belief that ee sala cup namde (this year the cup is ours), 17 of them ending in wretched disappointment for one of the IPL’s biggest and most passionate fan bases, three of them ending with defeat at the final hurdle.

Eighteen seasons in, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are finally IPL champions. Their victory in their fourth final came at the expense of another trophy-less team that had put together a heartwarming IPL 2025 campaign; it wasn’t to be for Punjab Kings (PBKS), but their time will surely come too.

It’s a sign of how far T20 has come that 190 beating 184 was a bowler-dominated game. PBKS did brilliantly to restrict RCB to 190 after sending them in, but RCB’s bowlers did even better, with Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal – who have all won IPL titles at other teams – bringing their experience and nous to play on an unusual Ahmedabad surface.

The margin of victory was narrow – six runs – and while it showed how closely matched these two teams have been over the season, it was also deceptive. Shashank Singh, who finished on an unbeaten 30-ball 61, hit Josh Hazelwood for 6, 4, 6, 6 to end the match and the season. But those hits came just a touch too late; PBKS went into the final over needing 29, and Hazlewood had started with a pair of dots that all but ended the contest mathematically.

At the end of it, all eyes were on one man, the man with 18 on his back. Like his innings in last year’s T20 World Cup final, Virat Kohli’s 43 in this game seemed at various points like it belonged to another era, too risk-averse, and likely to set his team a below-par total. But there were clues throughout his knock that this wasn’t the sort of pitch that Ahmedabad has rolled out routinely this season, where 196 had been the smallest first-innings total in eight games. He had struggled especially to generate power with his pull shot, with the PBKS seamers generating tennis-ball bounce when they bowled into the pitch.

A target of 191, for all that, seemed too small for a PBKS line-up that had gunned down 204 with an over to spare at the same ground two days previously. But this pitch was different, and it didn’t necessarily ease up through the second innings. Between them, two of PBKS’ brightest batting talents outdid Kohli’s struggles: where Kohli scored 43 off 35 balls, Prabhsimran Singh and Nehal Wadhera scored 41 off 40 between them.

Krunal has won three IPL titles with Mumbai Indians (MI), and was Player of the Match in one of them. That was for what he did with the bat.

This time, he came in to bat in the 18th over and holed out for 4 off 5. This time, he turned the match with the ball.

The final was on a knife edge when he came on. PBKS were 52 for 1 at the end of their powerplay; RCB had been 55 for 1 at the same stage.

Krunal’s first over contained most of the ingredients that made him so difficult to hit on this pitch, which had just enough natural variation of pace and turn to make him hard to line up. He bowled fast and into the pitch, either angling the ball into the right-handers’ leg stump and cramping them for room or firing it wide of off stump to offer a single to sweeper cover that they didn’t particularly want. Only three runs came off this over.

His next over brought in another dimension: the ability to spot the batter’s intentions and change his pace at the last moment. Seeing the struggling Prabhsimran charge at him, Krunal – whose usual pace hovers in the 98-101kph range – dangled an 80kph ball outside his eyeline. Wrenched out of shape, Prabhsimran skewed a catch to point.

Go back to November 19, 2023, Shreyas Iyer had been in red-hot form through that ODI World Cup, and had played the innings of India’s semi-final win. Then, in the final, he had fallen early, caught behind off a back-of-a-length delivery.

The same script played out all over again now, more or less. Where he had poked uncertainly at Pat Cummins two years ago, he top-edged an attempted slash through point, off Romario Shepherd. It was a massive inflection point in this game, leaving PBKS needing 112 off 62 balls.

They were still in with more than a shout, though, because of their batting depth, and because Josh Inglis was playing a blinder. On this pitch where the short or shortish ball wasn’t coming onto the bat at anything like a predictable pace or height, he was playing the pull like a man in a dream. He scored 33 off 10 pulls, against pace and spin, hitting one four and four sixes.

At 39, however, he looked to step out and launch Krunal over long-on, and didn’t quite find either the power or elevation to do so. At that point, with PBKS needing 93 off 47, it seemed all but over.

Shashank had started his season at the same ground, and hit five fours in a now iconic final over, leaving his captain, on 97, without the strike.

He ended it with another burst of brilliance, keeping PBKS hanging on by their fingernails even as the required rate kept climbing. He hit Hazlewood for two sixes in the 16th over, and kept the equation within the bounds of possibility: 55 off 24. Then, with the rest of PBKS’ batters and genuine allrounders back in the hut, he refused singles and kept the strike all through the 19th over, hitting Bhuvneshwar for a six and a four to bring it to 29 off the last six balls.

It wasn’t to be, but the explosion at the finish, when the match was done, showed how much closer PBKS could have come if things had gone just a little differently.

Through most of RCB’s innings, it felt difficult to pin down whether they were going a touch too slow on a flat pitch or laying a strong platform on a slow one. While Kohli did his thing at one end, his top-order colleagues kept falling just when they were looking threatening, with Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar and Liam Livingstone scoring 66 off 43 between them. All three fell to Kyle Jamieson, who used the slower legcutter to telling effect, either getting it to die on the batter from shorter lengths or dip disconcertingly when he went full.

Jamieson, Azmatullah Omarzai and Vijaykumar Vyshak all hammered away on a hard length, and RCB couldn’t quite find a way to attack that length until Jitesh Sharma walked in. His 24 off 10 balls was a crucial little cameo in the end, featuring a flat-batted six over cover when he exposed all his stumps to create room, and a scooped six over his head, hit while chest-on to the bowler, Jamieson.

Jitesh’s innings threatened to take RCB past 200, but their ambitions were nipped in the bud by Vyshak, who dismissed Jitesh while conceding just five runs in the 18th over, and Arshdeep Singh, who found the reverse-swing that allowed him to go full and attack the stumps in a three-wicket final over that cost PBKS just five runs.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 190 for 9 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 16, Virat Kohli 43, Mayank Agarwal 24, Rajat Patidar 26, Liam Livingstone 25, Jitesh Sharma 24, Romario Shepherd 17; Arshdeep Singh 3-40, Kyle Jamieson 3-48, Azmatullah Omarzai 1-35, Vijaykumar Vyshak 1-30, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-37) beat Punjab Kings 184 for 7 in 20 overs (Priyansh Arya 24, Prabhsimran Singh 26, Nehal Wadhera 15, Shashank Singh 61*, Josh Inglis 39; Krunal Pandya 2-17, Yash Dayal 1-18, Josh Hazelwood 1-54,Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-38, Romairo Shepherd 1-30) by six runs

[Cricinfo]

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Six dead after vehicle crashes into crowd near Vesak Dansala in Meegoda

Published

1 day ago

2026/06/1

Priyan

It has been reported that six persons, have died while several others are injured after a vehicle crashed into a crowd of people near a Vesak Dansala in the Meegoda Junction.

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Sooryavanshi wins Orange Cap, MVP and Emerging Player awards in IPL 2026

Published

1 day ago

2026/06/1

Priyan

Vaivhav Sooryavanshi finished the IPL with the Orange Cap on his head [Cricinfo]

Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter Vaibhav Sooriyavanshi has won the Most Valuable Player (MVP), Orange Cap (most runs), and Emerging Player awards in IPL 2026 after amassing 776 runs in 16 innings at a strike rate of 237.30.

Gujarat Titans (GT) quick Kagiso Rabada won the Purple Cap for topping the wickets chart. He took 29 wickets from 17 games at an economy rate of 9.68. This was the second time he won the Purple Cap, having done so previously in IPL 2020 when he took 30 wickets for Delhi Capitals. Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Bhuveneshwar Kumar was a close second with 28 wickets.

Sooryavanshi, 15, is the first player to win both the MVP and Emerging Player awards in the same season. He was the first since Chris Gayle in 2011 to top both the runs and strike rate charts (min. 20 balls faced) in the same season. Sooryavanshi hit 72 sixes in IPL 2026, breaking Gayle’s record of most sixes (59) in an IPL season, and played a key role in RR making it to the playoffs. They eventually lost to GT in Qualifier 2 in New Chandigarh.

“It feels nice, but there is pressure because I am doing interviews. It is a proud moment and I will try and do well next season too,” Sooryanvashi said after collecting his awards at the end of the final. “I try to back my game and if the ball is there to be hit, I go all out for it and just try to play that way.

“How to play the pressure game, how to change myself every game, you can’t play every game in one mode, you need to read the game situation and play according to the team’s requirements. These are my learnings from this season. [On fitness] Yes, my focus is on that. If I have to play long, I have to stay clear of injuries and work on my fitness and have to focus more.”

GT captain Shubman Gill was second on the Orange Cap list with 732 runs. He was followed by his team-mate and opening partner B Sai Sudharsan, who finished with 722.

At the Cricinfo Honours awards on the eve of the IPL final, Sachin Tendulkar had said Sooriyavanshi was “truly special”.

“Everyone is talking about Sooryavanshi, and I watched him bat – it was magnificent. I mean he is something truly special. And not just the ability to hit the ball, but what also fascinated me was the wrist work that he has. To be able to play in all directions of the ground, you need good wrist work. And he is not slogging the ball. He is just picking the line and length earlier than the rest of the guys and he is able to clear the rope comfortably.”

[Cricinfo]

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Kohli, bowlers lead RCB to second straight IPL title

Published

1 day ago

2026/06/1

Priyan

RCB started the celebrations late into the night•May 31, 2026 [Cricinfo]

It took them 18 years to win their first title, but Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) took no time in becoming only the third team to successfully defend it. Their seam bowlers made superb use of a slightly sticky surface after Rajat Patidar won the toss, restricting Gujarat Titans (GT), who were in their third final in five years of their existence, to 155, the exact same score RCB managed in the league match against the seam team in the same ground on the same pitch No. 6 bang in the middle of the square.

Josh Hazelwood who has never lost a T20 or ODI final, set the tone with the wicket of Shubman Gill in his first over. Bhuveneshwar Kumar momentarily reclaimed the purple cap with two wickets, and Rasikh Salam capped off his best IPL with three to take his tally for the year to 19. Last final’s Player of the match, Krunal Pandya, who won his fifth IPL final out of five, also chipped in with the big wicket of Jos Buttler in his analysis of 4-0-23-1. He is now behind only Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu in number of titles, and is also the first player to successfully defend a title with two different teams.

Only three out of 26 scores under 190 in a full match had been defended successfully this IPL. With the ball still nibbling around, the best attack in the tournament would have thought they had a chance, but amid falling wickets, Virat Kohli chose this final to hit his fastest IPL fifty and his highest playoff score, leading a five-wicket win with two overs to spare.

Get the openers

Gill and B Sai Sudharsan came into the final as the only pair of batters from the same team to have scored 700 or more runs in the same IPL. However, they were up against bowlers that have troubled them in the past. A cagey start ensued, Gill survived the Bhuvneshwar over, but Hazlewood had him top-edging his signature short-arm pull.

GT promoted Nishant Sindhu to No. 3 to protect Buttler from Bhuvneshwar, but the wily bowler made sure Buttler had to come out as he took out Sudharsan in his second over. He first beat Sudharsan on the charge with a bouncer before continuing with another, this one taking the toe end on the ramp. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, in attendance in Ahmedabad, was now assured of the orange cap. This was only the fourth time this IPL that both the GT owners had been dismissed inside the powerplay, three of them against RCB.

Middle-overs choke

Seeing some grip from the pitch and conventional, subdued batters at the wicket, Krunal shelved all his fancy change-ups and bowled only length. His first three overs yielded zero boundaries. Salam was equally miserly at the other end, just bowling good length and enjoying the slight variations from the surface. One of those had Sindhu caught at long-on.

When Krunal started his final over, they had gone 37 legal deliveries without a boundary. Krunal expected the frustrated Buttler to try something, saw him coming and fired in a wide yorker for a spectacular stumping by Jitesh Sharma.

Another promotion followed with Arshad Khan walking in and hitting the fourth ball of the 13th over for a six, only one ball quicker than the longest it has taken a team to hit a six in an IPL final.

No let-up from RCB

Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar and Salam offered no freebies in the death overs. Every time GT thought they could build some momentum, one of the quicks jolted them with a wicket. Hazlewood got Arshad, Bhuvneshwar made it 28 wickets for the season with Jason Holder’s scalp, and Salam took out Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan in the end. Only Jacob Duffy went wicketless, but he, too, nearly had Washington Sundar, who went on from the reprieve to score a fighting 37-ball 50.

The high-octane chase

Like he did in the 2024 final with a 50 at two runs a ball, Venkatesh Iyer got the middling chase to a flying start. Not that he needed extra licence, but an injury to the inside of the knee in the first over of the chase left him no option but to hit out. He hit out against Rabada in his first over, and by the time Mohammed Siraj got him out for 32 off 16, he had set RCB on their way.

While Venkatesh might have added reason to hit out, Kohli lashed out at Rabada with ferocity that was only foretold by a season in which he has matched some of the younger, more cutting-edge T20 batters. Of the six batters to have scored 600 or more this IPL, only Sooryavanshi and Ishan Kishan have done so quicker than his 675 at 165.84.

As is often expected of Kohli, he was pumped up when he took on his great rival Rabada, hitting a spectacular six and three fours in Rabada’s second. Rattled bowlers lost their line against Kohli, whose first run on the off side was his 39th. By that time, Rabada had taken back his purple cap with Devdutt Padikkal’s wicket and Rashid Khan would soon take two in his first over, but the asking rate was already under a run a ball.

Only an injury to Kohli slowed down RCB’s march to the title, but Kohli finished it off in style with a four and a six off the last two balls of the 18th over.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 161 for 5 in 18 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 32, Virat Kohli 75*, Rajat Patidar 15, Tim David 24, Jitesh Sharma 11*; Mohammed Siraj 1-36, Kagiso Rabada 1-44, Rashid Khan 2-25, Arshad Khan 1-32) beat Gujarat Titans 155 for 8 in 20 overs (Sai Sudarshan 12, Shubman Gill 10, Nishant Sindhu 20, Jos Buttler 19, Washington Sundar 50*, Arshad Khan 15; Rasikh Salam 3-27, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-29, Josh Hazelwood 2-37, Krunal Pandya 1-23) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]