Virat Kohli Lays Down The Marker On RCB's IPL 2025 Triumph: 'It's Not By Chance'

RCB finally ended their prolonged title drought after beating the Punjab Kings by six runs in a thrilling IPL 2025 final in Ahmedabad. Virat Kohli has been with RCB since its inception and he had to wait for a long 18 years to finally lay his hand on the title. RCB will open their IPL 2026 encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 28 at Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Virat Kohli Opens Up On IPL 2025 Final

RCB had multiple heartbreaks ahead of the IPL 2025 final and the franchise had remained one of the handful of teams that had yet to lift an IPL title. Virat Kohli was a valuable cog for RCB last term, having amassed 657 runs in 15 IPL matches. Despite his retirement from T20Is, the 37-year-old remained in great shape and has continued to play a lead role for RCB.

On RCB's IPL 2025 triumph over PBKS, Virat opened up on how they approached the final.

In a video uploaded on RCB's official X handle he said, “To be very honest, when we reached the finals, I felt a sense of calm confidence. But you also understand it's not going to be a cakewalk, it's a final, and there's another team who's played really, really well to get there and obviously beaten a lot of good sides, so they are also very confident in what they want to do.”

“Given the history of the near misses and the almost moments of the past where we reached the finals and we could not win, I think that gave us extra motivation to hold our nerve because the league has become so much more competitive. We must have played really good cricket to get to the finals. It's not a fluke. It's not by chance. We've beaten some really good teams and we are an amazing side who have earned the right to be here on this day.”

RCB's aim will now be to successfully defend their title this year.

RCB Squad For IPL 2026

Abhinandan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jacob Bethell, Jitesh Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Krunal Pandya, Nuwan Thushara, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Rasikh Dar, Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma, Swapnil Singh, Tim David, Virat Kohli, Yash Dayal, Vihaan Malhotra (Rs 30 lakh), Jordan Cox (Rs 75 lakh), Venkatesh Iyer (Rs 7 Cr), Satvik Deswal (Rs 30 lakh), Mangesh Yadav (Rs 5.20 Cr), Vicky Ostwal (Rs 30 lakh), Kanishk Chouhan (Rs 30 lakh), Jacob Duffy (Rs 2 Cr).

Also Read: 'There Is A Problem In India...': R Ashwin's Explosive Verdict On Virat Kohli's Test Retirement