Death, taxes, and Virat Kohli delivering in run chases—at least that’s how the story unfolded on Friday night at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The defending Indian Premier League champions, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, dug in and pulled off a five-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans, reaching the target of 206 with seven balls to spare. Kohli was the defining force, striking at 184.09 as he smashed 81 off 44 deliveries, laced with eight fours and four sixes, to steer RCB home in a tense chase.
The chase was largely built on a commanding second-wicket stand. Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal combined to accumulate 115 runs off just 59 balls, turning the momentum firmly in RCB’s favour. Padikkal struck with real intent, scoring 55 off 27 balls, while Kohli anchored the innings and kept the scoring rate climbing. Although they didn’t stay at the crease until the end, their partnership ensured RCB had the game under control for long stretches.
With the win, RCB moved up to second place in the points table, extending the momentum that comes with defending champions who can chase with confidence. Kohli also walked away with Player of the Match honours and, in the process, became the latest holder of the Orange Cap. In his post-game assessment, Kohli pointed to Padikkal as the clearest difference between the two sides, describing how the left-hander’s aggressive approach helped settle nerves inside the RCB camp.
“Dev’s done this twice this season, where he’s come in and absolutely played a blinder from ball one. The first ball he hit off Rabada was magnificent, and he has the game awareness and the ability—especially in conditions like ours—to play good cricketing shots and hurt opposition. Striking over 200 is quite rare, to be honest,” Kohli said during the presentation.
Kohli then elaborated on what made the innings so impactful, highlighting the unusual combination of acceleration without surrendering control. “You never see him slogging the ball. You feel like he’s not giving you a sniff in the game, and yet he’s scoring so freely. So I think Dev’s innings was the clear difference in the first half. And then I was just trying to stay in the game enough so that he wouldn’t feel all the pressure. And it was my responsibility to hit boundaries at the right times. Yeah, that partnership was the game-sealer and the game-changer for us eventually,” he added.
Earlier in the evening, Gujarat Titans had started brightly. Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill put together a 128-run opening stand, setting a solid platform for the chase. However, the Titans struggled to find the big bursts of scoring during the closing overs, and despite Sudharsan reaching a century, the innings ended with Gujarat posting 205/3 rather than pushing further towards a higher total.
Explaining the reason RCB were able to keep the target within reach, Kohli credited the bowling unit for handling the backend effectively and forcing Gujarat to stay under the number they would have preferred. “Even in our bowling innings, I think we bowled really well to pull things back. They were about, I felt, 20-25 short in the end. We were looking at 230, 235 at one stage. But our bowlers did a magnificent job,” Kohli said. He also pointed to the playing conditions, noting that the pitch was among the better batting surfaces they’d encountered so far, with the ball moving nicely and spinners not getting as much grip as they might have hoped. “The feedback was the pitch is not bad at all. It’s probably the best batting conditions we’ve had so far. The ball was coming on nicely. The spinners were not quite getting the ball to grip,” he said.
Kohli further explained how RCB viewed the match as it evolved—staying patient rather than chasing every ball, then looking to intensify once partnerships started to take shape. “It wasn’t holding into the pitch. So we felt like if you stay in the game enough, string in a big partnership, then it’s going to get tougher and tougher. And yeah, once you get hold of the conditions and you get on top of the bowlers, then you obviously back yourselves a little more to take the game on,” he added.
He concluded by describing the clear message that guided RCB’s chase throughout the partnership. “Dev was going great guns, and the idea was just to keep pressing the bowlers back. And whoever we felt like we want to take down, the message was very clear from the batsmen and then the non-striker saying, yeah, go for it. So there was intent and there was clarity and feedback from the other end. So we didn’t have any doubts whatsoever through the partnership. And I think that’s what worked for us,” Kohli said.
