Virat Kohli has finally realised a long-awaited dream. Yes, Virat Kohli, a man who has nearly won every major honour available in cricket. But on May 31, while playing his second Indian Premier League final in two years, Kohli made sure that he experienced a moment that he would cherish for the rest of his life.
Batting on a balmy evening at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Kohli battled cramps through the middle stages of his innings. But in gladiatorial fashion, he fought through the discomfort and ensured that he placed himself in a position to hit the winning runs, doing so with a lovely six over long-off.
VIRAT KOHLI’S MS DHONI MOMENT
The moment was reminiscent of MS Dhoni’s iconic “finishes off in style” moment from the 2011 World Cup final, except this time it came in the Indian Premier League, a tournament where Kohli has remained loyal to a single franchise for 19 long years. Through all those years of ridicule and disappointment, when Royal Challengers Bengaluru repeatedly fell short, Kohli stayed committed to the cause.
Lately, in Kohli’s career, it has often felt as though cricket has been paying him back for the unwavering service that he has devoted to the sport. In 2024, Kohli was India’s best batter in India’s T20 World Cup triumph on a tricky surface in Barbados. In 2026, he repeated the feat, this time while chasing 156 in another high-pressure final on a pitch that was not entirely straightforward.
Speaking after the match, that sense of gratitude seemed to glimmer in Kohli’s eyes as he reflected on the moment.
“It’s the stuff that you dream of. I’ve thought about this moment many times, that when we win the IPL, I should be standing there after hitting the winning runs. Today it was possible,” Kohli told Ravi Shastri in the post-match presentation while collecting his Player of the Match award.
“We just felt really relaxed coming into the match and really confident about how we wanted to go about our cricket and the kind of team we have. That gives you the confidence to see any kind of situation through. In a chase, I felt really comfortable out there, knowing exactly what I had to do,” Kohli added.
YOUNG IPL STARS IMPROVING ME: KOHLI
The final capped yet another remarkable season for Kohli. He became the first player in IPL history to score more than 600 runs in four consecutive seasons. Significantly, two of those four seasons have now ended with title triumphs.
In the 2026 edition of the tournament, Kohli scored 675 runs at a strike rate of 166, the highest strike rate of his IPL career. It was perhaps the clearest indication yet of how he has evolved his game to keep pace with a format that continues to change rapidly.
Kohli credited the younger generation of players entering the IPL for forcing him to rethink aspects of his batting.
“You have these super-young players pushing you all the time and really forcing you to change your game and up the ante.”
“It’s an exciting situation because it gives you something to improve on, something to work towards. I take a lot of pride in getting better and trying to figure out areas where I can improve.”
“It was just a case of adapting to the demands of the modern game, where you need those extra 20 or 30 runs. I had to change my mindset, not so much my game. I had to play those shots more often and take on the bowlers, probably the best bowlers in the opposition attack. That was always my target,” Kohli concluded.
With the victory, Kohli and RCB achieved one of the rarest feats in IPL history. They successfully defended their title in what is widely regarded as one of the most competitive franchise leagues in world cricket.
In doing so, RCB joined Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians as teams to have won back-to-back IPL titles. Given the depth and balance of their current squad, they also appear well placed heading into the next season.
But for Kohli, that is probably a distant thought for another day. For now, he can simply savour a dream that first took shape when he was a 20-year-old entering the inaugural season of the IPL, and which finally became reality nearly two decades later under the lights in Ahmedabad.
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