Gujarat Titans did not have much of a choice but to attack when Virat Kohli and Venkatesh Iyer came out to bat in the final innings of the Indian Premier League. Royal Challengers Bengaluru needed just 156 runs, a paltry amount by today’s standards, and were expected to race to the trophy.
But Gujarat had a little bit of hope. Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada had dominated the powerplay throughout the season and were one of the most destructive pace pairings in the tournament. Most often, they bowled three overs each in the powerplay, which allowed the rest of the GT bowlers, Rashid Khan, Jason Holder, Prasidh Krishna and Arshad Khan, to wreak havoc in the middle overs.
But it was imperative that Rabada and Siraj started well.
And Siraj did. The Indian fast bowler moved the ball both ways in the first over, putting Venky and Virat in trouble. Suddenly, the feelings from the first innings came rushing back again, that this could be a really difficult pitch to bat on.
IPL 2026 Final, RCB vs GT: Highlights | Scorecard
But that feeling did not last long. Venkatesh Iyer ravaged Rabada for 18 runs in the next over, but in doing so, Venky injured his knee and was not able to run anymore. The onus then fell on Virat Kohli, who had struggled until that point to find the big shots.
With the world watching him, with the pressure of title defence on his shoulders, Kohli got into his element. This is what he loved. Kohli whipped Siraj for a four through the leg side and then pulled the bowler for another boundary two minutes later. Just like that, RCB started to dominate the home team in the chase.
The fourth over was even more disdainful. Kohli hammered Rabada for three fours and one six, racing to 28 off just 10 balls and batting at a strike rate of 280. RCB had raced to 55 for no loss in just four overs, and the tone had been set. The game felt finished. RCB were going to chase this down, perhaps in record time.
Virat Kohli has this odd habit of standing up at the most difficult of times. In the 2024 T20 World Cup, Kohli played a fighting innings of 76 runs, one that saved India from a terrible collapse against South Africa. On Sunday, when RCB’s innings had suddenly gone sideways, Kohli once again stood the test of time.
GT made a cracking comeback in the game, almost out of nowhere, when Rashid Khan dismissed Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya in the ninth over. Introduced for the first time in the attack, Rashid, the greatest spinner of the modern T20 game, hurled GT back into contention by bowling a sensational over.
Kohli watched from the other end as panic ensued and RCB were left scampering for answers.
In the middle of that hullabaloo, Kohli also pulled a muscle. The balmy evening in Ahmedabad and two months of cricket in the terrible Indian summer had taken their toll. Kohli was robbed of his greatest asset, running between the wickets.
The idea of not running hard was so alien to him that a couple of times he tapped the ball and stormed out of his crease, only to realise two steps later that he was in no shape or form to run hard at all.
Kohli saw off Rashid’s spell. The required rate was so low that it barely mattered. He picked up boundaries through classical shots, his straight drives and flicks. Those that did not reach the boundary line were converted into singles instead of twos and threes.
And that’s when his old dream sneaked into his mind. He wanted his MS Dhoni moment. He wanted to hit the winning runs in the match.
As others lost their wickets, Kohli made sure that he stayed till the end. With RCB needing just eight runs to win after the 17th over, Kohli saw his moment. First, he split the field between mid-on and midwicket for a four, and then lofted Arshad for a six through long-on.
The job was done. RCB had won their second IPL title in back-to-back years.
The first one might have taken 18 years to come, but the second one arrived in just 12 months. Kohli, who had desperately chased that first title, finally had his photo finish in an IPL final, a six to seal victory in the most elusive white-ball trophy of his career.
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