RCB Crowned IPL 2026 Champions Again After King Kohli Rules With His Fastest Fifty At Narendra Modi Stadium
· Free Press Journal
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) produced a brilliant all-round effort to retain their IPL title beating Gujarat Titans by five wickets in the summit clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium, here on Sunday.
Chasing 156 for victory, RCB did get a scare when Rashid Khan scalped two wickets in the ninth over to send Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya back to the pavilion but the iconic Virat Kohli slammed a timely half-century to power the Bengaluru side home at 161/5 in 18 overs.
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Kohli’s 75 in 42 balls comprised nine fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 178.57.
With the win, Rajat Patidar became the third IPL captain to win consecutive titles after Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2010 and 2011 for Chennai Super Kings and Rohit Sharma in 2019 and 2020 for Mumbai Indians.
Earlier, RCB took a big step towards retaining their IPL title when their bowlers restricted Gujarat Titans to an unimpressive 155/8 in 20 overs.
Bowlers led by Rasikh Salam (3/27), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/29) and Josh Hazlewood (2/37) ensured RCB had the game in their grip at the innings break.
Washington Sundar was the top scorer for Titans with a fifty off 37 balls that hardly made any impact as the home side were left to rue an insipid batting display.
Meanwhile, Sai Sudharsan was off to a top start in the first over of the blockbuster final cracking two fours off RCB’s Jacob Duffy to get the Gujarat Titans going.
After being put into bat, the pressure was on the Titans to set up a massive target for the marauding RCB batting line up and Sudharsan and skipper Shubman Gill went about the business with an earnest approach.
Duffy went for 13 runs in the first over after Sudharsan’s fours but Bhuvneshwar Kumar pulled it back for RCB with a tight second over giving away just five runs.
Thereafter, disaster struck for Gujarat Titans as their captain Gill was sent packing by Josh Hazlewood in the third over of the match as he holed out to RCB skipper Rajat Patidar, who took a catch running to his right from mid-on.
It was double trouble for the Titans in the fourth over when Bhuvneshwar struck getting the in-form and red-hot Sudharsan caught behind by wicket-keeper batter Jitesh Pillai at short fine-leg.
Gujarat Titans were 30/2 as Nishant Sindhu and new batsman Jos Buttler took charge with a huge task at hand. Sindhu smashed two boundaries in the fifth over with the second one coming off a misfield as the Titans aimed to counter attack.
Sindhu was out off the last ball of the eighth over after a not-so-impressive 20 off 18 balls snapped up by Devdutt Padikkal at long-on off Rasikh Salam’s bowling in the eighth over as the Titans were again in doldrums.
Washington Sundar survived a close call off the last ball of the 10th over when Jordan Cox grassed his catch off Duffy which initially looked out but the third umpire ruled not out after TV replays showed Cox’s fingers were not wrapped below the ball.
Buttler perished for a mere 19 runs after Krunal Pandya lured him forward and had him stumped by Jitesh Sharma as Gujarat Titans’ woes deepened. At 73/4 in 12.1 overs, the Titans had to do a lot of soul-searching to set RCB a competitive target.
The game was drifting away from the Gujarat Titans as the RCB bowlers, pacers and spinners alike, seemed to have woven a web from which the home side were struggling to wriggle out.
Then came the 14th over off Duffy which turned out to be productive for the Titans as Washington and new batter Arshad Khan broke the shackles cracking two fours and a six, respectively, as 16 runs came from it.
However, Arshad’s six-ball 15 was cut short by Hazlewood as the Australian pacer sent him back to the pavilion caught by Salam as Gujarat Titans hurtled to 99/5 in 14.1 overs.
At the drinks break after the completion of 15 overs, Titans were 105/5 and were desperately hoping to finish with a flourish to give themselves something to fight with when RCB come out to bat.
When Rahul Tewatia departed for seven runs after, it seemed Gujarat Titans had little left in the tank with three overs yet to be completed in the innings.
Washington was the lone man standing as he and Jason Holder got together to crack some much needed boundaries for the Titans as they inched towards 150.