Virat Kohli, who had never won the Indian Premier League before, secured his back-to-back title by defeating Gujarat Titans.
Published May 31, 2026
Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 75 and inspired bowling guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to their second consecutive Indian Premier League title with a five-wicket win against Gujarat Titans.
Bengaluru restricted Gujarat to 155 for eight with a total of 12 balls to spare after Kohli made his fifth half-century of the season in a lopsided final in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
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Kohli sealed the victory with a six off his spectacular 42-ball innings, which included nine fours and three sixes, and pointed towards the stands as Bengaluru players sprinted to celebrate.
Bangalore and Kohli, led by Rajat Patidar, have been on a roll since winning their maiden IPL title in their 18th attempt last year. After the league stage of this season, they were in first place among 10 teams.
“It was a dream come true. I kept reliving this moment, wishing I could hit the winning shot,” said Kohli, 37, who was named player of the match.
“I felt really relaxed going into it. Our team gives us confidence that we can overcome any situation. We knew exactly what to do in the pursuit. The demands from our super young players will push us to raise the bar.”
Kohli added: “We knew what we were capable of in the group and we just said one thing: ‘If we stick to our cricket and execute our plan, we can be the best team in the competition.'”
Kohli’s iconic number 18 jersey dominated the stands at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the world’s largest cricket ground, which recorded an attendance of more than 90,000 official spectators on Sunday.
Bangalore got off to a good start with Kohli and fellow opener Venkatesh Iyer hitting 32 off 16 balls in a 62-run partnership.
Mohammed Siraj defeated Iyer and broke the stand, while Kagiso Rabada eliminated his opponent’s Devdutt Padikkal.
Rashid Khan hit two in his first over, sending Patidar back with 15 and Krunal Pandya, raising Gujarat’s hopes.
However, Tim David and Kohli stabilized the response by scoring 41 runs. David lost 24, but Kohli, along with Jitesh Sharma, saw the team through to the end.
Kohli has taken a break from Test cricket and T20 internationals and is only playing for India in the ODI format.
Patidar joins an elite group of IPL captains to win back-to-back titles. MS Dhoni achieved this feat with Chennai Super Kings in 2010 and 2011, while Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to glory in 2019 and 2020.
“This year, I played more calmly throughout the tournament,” Patidar told reporters while celebrating his 33rd birthday in style. “The way I am captain is different. I am not expressive, but I am aware of the situation of the game.”
Bangalore’s quicks set up the victory, with Rasik Salam, along with Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, producing an outstanding 3-27 in a disciplined attack and picking up two wickets.
The trio justified the decision to put Gujarat in bat and strike regularly from the early innings. Only Washington Sundar defiantly resisted, scoring 50 not out.
Hazlewood dismissed captain Shubman Gill for 10 and Patidar struck the first blow with a brilliant running catch.
Kumar smashed the other opener Sai Sudarsan for 12 in the next over.
While Gill and Sudarsan were both in contention for the Orange Cap, which is given to the top scorer of the IPL season, 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi of Rajasthan Royals came out on top with 776 runs.
Teenage sensation Sooryavanshi was named the best player of the tournament and also won the emerging player award.
Gill (732) and Sudarsan (722) finished second and third on the run chart. Kohli was fourth with 675.
Nishant Sindhu, who scored 20 runs, and Jos Buttler tried to stabilize Gujarat’s innings, but they struggled against the pathetic attack and Salam soon removed Sindhu.
Krunal Pandya failed Buttler for 19 runs with his left-arm spin and Gujarat slumped to 73-4.
“We have an apex predator, but we just couldn’t get going in the powerplay,” Gujarat batting coach Matthew Hayden said. “I thought it was a great bowling performance by RCB.”
Wickets continued to fall, but Thunder stood firm and reached 50 in 20 overs.
The effort was not enough and Gujarat ended up as runners-up for the second time in three finals. Their only win came in their debut season in 2022.
