It was a night laced with inevitability. Royal Challengers Bengaluru turned the authority they showed from the opening day of the IPL into a second straight title, cruising to a five-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Sunday. Virat Kohli was the cornerstone of the chase, finishing unbeaten on 75 off 42 balls as RCB reached 161 for five in 18 overs while GT managed 155 for eight.
Quick facts
- Match: Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Gujarat Titans (Ahmedabad, Sunday)
- Gujarat Titans finished on 155/8
- Royal Challengers Bengaluru chased successfully, reaching 161/5 in 18 overs
- Virat Kohli: 75* off 42 balls
- Key cameo: Tim David made 24 off 17 balls
- RCB bowlers kept GT to a difficult total on pitch No. 6
For Gujarat, 155 for eight carried a familiar sense of trepidation; for Bengaluru, 161 for five in 18 overs reflected confidence and purpose. The decisive theme was Kohli’s controlled aggression in the chase, backed by a batting plan that left the Titans chasing shadows. Even with wickets falling at moments, the chase stayed anchored around Kohli’s unbeaten run.
Kohli’s chase masterclass
Kohli’s intent was visible from the start, walking in with the kind of single-minded desire that has defined his career. The momentum swung early when Kagiso Rabada was put under immediate pressure, with a spell of 4, 4, 6, 4 delivered right after his opening punishment began in the second over—where Venkatesh Iyer had already taken the South African for 18 runs.
Kohli and Venkatesh stitched together a partnership worth 62 runs in only 4.3 overs, turning the chase into a moving target that kept drifting farther away. Once Rabada’s rhythm was erased across three consecutive overs, Gujarat struggled to generate enough impact during the Power Play, despite needing a strong start.
RCB still had to deal with a brief disruption: Venkatesh’s dismissal was followed by Devdutt Padikkal falling, then skipper Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya leaving quickly as well. That sequence pushed Bengaluru to 91 for four, creating a short window of chaos in the chase.
But Kohli refused to loosen his grip. The 37-year-old absorbed the pressure, reached his fifth fifty of the season while pulling four off pacer Arshad Khan, and kept GT’s attempts at a comeback at bay. When Tim David arrived, he brought a burst of urgency—24 off 17 balls—to ease the tension further for Kohli.
There was also a moment of close scrutiny for Kohli’s side. Kohli survived a scare when Shubman Gill’s catch off Arshad appeared to be the breakthrough, only for the umpire’s review to show the ball had bumped on the grass. Soon after, Kohli supplied the finishing punctuation by striking a six off Arshad, taking RCB to the winning moment.
The impact of that shot was immediate inside the dugout. The RCB dressing room erupted into a scene of celebration, with the players’ reaction likened to children after examination results. Patidar, who had joined MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma as the only captains to defend an IPL title successfully, also dropped his usual stoic mask, flashing a wide grin as the title celebrations began.
Others swarmed the field to gather around Kohli, the beating heart of the franchise since 2008. Yet before Kohli could etch the chase into memory, RCB’s bowlers set the foundation by using a slow surface to perfection, restricting Gujarat Titans to a below-par 155 for eight.
Slow pitch, tight bowling
The match unfolded on pitch No. 6 at the Narendra Modi stadium, a wicket described as a blend of red and black soil that made shot-making a challenge. That difficulty showed clearly in Gujarat’s batting, where only a measured resistance was possible against Bengaluru’s probing lengths.
Washington Sundar stood out with an unbeaten 50 off 37 balls, striking four boundaries along the way. Still, the support around him was insufficient, and the damage done earlier meant the innings could not be steered back into a truly competitive shape.
Fatigue and logistics may have added to Gujarat’s burden. They had played Qualifier 2 on Friday, then faced a delayed departure due to inclement weather at Mullanpur, leaving them with additional reasons for their sluggishness. Even so, the credit for the outcome belonged firmly to RCB’s bowlers, who found the right areas on a deck that resisted clean hitting.
Gujarat’s plan required skipper Gill and opener B Sai Sudharsan to fire early and build momentum, but it never really clicked. The innings began with some familiarity for the openers, yet Gill’s attempt to swat Josh Hazlewood (2/37) produced an edge that Patidar took cleanly—an early sign that Bengaluru’s pressure would be constant.
Sudharsan, who had earlier been reprieved by DRS from being caught behind off Jacob Duffy, did not last much longer this time. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/29) delivered a well-placed high and wide bouncer, and Sudharsan’s pull shot ended with Jitesh Sharma taking a running catch to remove him.
With two batters already gone—both having crossed 700 runs each in the season—Gujarat’s batting lost its structure. Their Power Play concluded at 45 for two, a meagre platform for a chase that would demand greater acceleration later.
After that, there was no sustained fight strong enough to reshape the innings. Jos Buttler made 19, and Washington reached his half-century in 37 balls, but neither could shake off the defensive pattern that Bengaluru forced them into.
Rasikh Salam Dhar (3/27) continued the damage, extending a strong spell that came behind the steady work of Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood. Dhar removed an out-of-sync Nishant Sindhu (20 off 18 balls) and also accounted for Rahul Tewatia, as the home side watched its batting lineup thin out well before reaching three figures.
Gujarat’s hitting also came late to the party. They had to wait until the 13th over for their first six of the innings—a drag over mid-wicket off Krunal Pandya by Arshad—highlighting the scale of the struggle throughout the chase setup. In the end, the storyline of the night belonged to RCB and Kohli, from the first breakthrough to the final winning shot.
