In his illustrious career, there are umpteen examples of why Virat Kohli is regarded as one of the best chasers in cricket history. On Sunday, the superstar chose the grand stage of IPL 2026 final to again showcase his chasing skills by leading Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a five-wicket win over Gujarat Titans as they retained the title.
On a Narendra Modi Stadium pitch where most batters struggled to time the ball, Kohli dazzled with an unbeaten 75 off 42 balls (9 fours, 3 sixes).
Electing to bowl, the RCB pace attack blew away the GT top-order to restrict the hosts to 155/8. In pursuit of the runs, RCB also suffered a few hiccups, reduced to 132/5 at one stage, but Kohli held firm at one end before finishing the game in style with a six over long-on.
The victory helped captain Rajat Patidar join an elite list with two other captains, MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, to win back-to-back IPL titles. At the same venue, Patidar had led RCB to their maiden title last year.
For the second time in less than a week, GT felt the full force of RCB’s might. Batted out of the game in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday, GT were wrecked by the RCB pace attack on Sunday.
The decisive period of play in the title clash was going to be the opening act. GT’s batting has depended heavily on openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, both having got 700 plus runs. RCB’s spearheads Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood delivered in the all-important game. The duo provided the early breakthroughs to silence the home supporters who were outnumbered by the red shirts in the packed stands.
The job was done inside the first four overs. Hazlewood struck the first blow, getting last match’s centurion Gill off his second ball. After bowling an excellent first over for just five runs, Bhuvneshwar plucked out Sudharsan, inducing a top edge in the fourth over of the innings. GT were down to 26/2. Bhuvneshwar finished with 4-0-29-2, for a tournament tally of 28 wickets. Halzelwood returned 4-0-37-2.
After being restricted to a below-par total, if GT had to make a match of it, their new ball pair of Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj had to match the performance of Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood. But Virat Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer dashed their hopes with a rollicking start. The RCB openers raced to their 50 partnership in just 3.3 overs.
Iyer set the tone by plundering 18 runs in Rabada’s first over. Kohli joined the act and smashed the South Africa speedster for three fours and a six in his second over. Siraj had kept things tight but Rabada proved expensive, going for 37 runs in two overs.
Siraj got the breakthrough at the total of 62, by rushing Iyer for pace and having him mistiming a catch to mid-on. It was, however, too late to make an impact. The opening blitz had reduced the equation to almost run a ball. Gill persisted with GT’s successful formula of bowling Siraj and Rabada straight out in the Powerplay. Siraj bowled well but Kohli ensured the move didn’t work by targetting Rabada while powering to 35 off 12 balls (5×4, 2×6).
Rabada’s figures read 3-0-44-0. At the end of the Powerplay, RCB were 70/2, with only 86 to get in 84 balls. Kohli got his 50 off 25 balls.
On a two-paced track, the hosts were never allowed to make a comeback. Such was their firm grip on the match that RCB didn’t feel the need to go beyond using their five frontline bowlers.
Rasikh Salam backed his senior pros well. High on confidence after a fine show in the Eliminator against GT, the J&K pacer produced another superb display (4-0-27-3). Most impressive was how he handled the pressure of slog overs, bowling the 17th over for just six runs and one wicket and the 20th for 10 runs and a wicket.
RCB’s lone spinner Krunal Pandya built pressure in an unchanged spell of four overs which read 4-0-23-1.
Washington Sundar was the only GT batter to get a fifty. He also could have perished early when he was dropped off Jacob Duffy in the 10th over. Washington, on four at that time, was unbeaten on 50 (37 balls).