Royal Challengers Bengaluru Wins Second Consecutive IPL Title

Ahmedabad. Royal Challengers Bengaluru has won the IPL title for the second consecutive time. 

In the final played on Sunday, it defeated Gujarat Titans by 5 wickets. 

Virat Kohli hit a six on the last ball of the 18th over to give the team victory. Kohli, who scored 75 runs, remained unbeaten. Virat was chosen as the 'Player of the Match'.

At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, after winning the toss, Bengaluru decided to bowl first. Gujarat scored 155 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs. Bengaluru completed the target of 156 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 18 overs.

Bengaluru had won the title in 2025 by defeating Punjab Kings on the same ground. It has become the third team to win two consecutive IPL trophies. Earlier, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have also achieved such success.

Some interesting facts created in this final:

• 3 – Royal Challengers Bengaluru has become the third team in IPL history to defend its title. Earlier, Chennai Super Kings in 2011 and Mumbai Indians in 2020 had defended their titles. Overall, Bengaluru has become the fourth team to win the IPL title multiple times. Earlier, Mumbai and Chennai have won five titles each, and Kolkata Knight Riders have won three titles.
• 1 – Rajat Patidar has become the first captain to win consecutive titles in his first two seasons as captain. Overall, he is the third captain to win consecutive titles. Earlier, MS Dhoni (2010 and 2011) and Rohit Sharma (2019 and 2020) had achieved this success.
• 25 – The number of balls Virat Kohli took to complete his half-century in the final against Gujarat Titans, which is the fastest half-century of his IPL career. Earlier in 2018, he had scored a half-century in 26 balls against Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals. Kohli's 25-ball half-century is also the joint fourth-fastest half-century by any batter in an IPL final.
• 22 – The number of 'Player of the Match' awards Virat Kohli has received in the IPL. This is the highest award received by any Indian player. He broke Rohit's record of 21 awards. Overall, only AB de Villiers (25) is ahead of Kohli, while Chris Gayle also has 22 awards. This award received by Kohli on Sunday was his first award in an IPL playoff (or knockout) match.
• 88.00 – The percentage of runs Kohli scored on the leg side while scoring 75 unbeaten runs. This is the highest proportion of runs from the leg side in his IPL innings of more than 50 runs. On Sunday, he scored only nine runs on the off-side, and those runs only came after he reached 38 runs. Overall, in IPL history, only seven innings of 50+ have had a higher percentage of runs from the leg side than Kohli's.
• 88 – Runs scored by Kohli against Kagiso Rabada's bowling in IPL 2026. This is the highest runs scored by a batter against a single bowler in a single IPL season. Earlier in 2026, Ishan Kishan had scored 74 runs against Jofra Archer. Facing Rabada's 37 balls this season, Kohli hit a total of 18 boundaries, including 14 fours and four sixes.
• 5-0 – Krunal Pandya's win-loss record as a player in IPL finals. Only Rohit and Ambati Rayudu have won more IPL finals than Krunal, with six finals each. Josh Hazlewood has also won all three IPL finals and all six T20 finals he has played. Apart from Krunal and Hazlewood, only three other players have played three or more IPL finals and won all of them: Rohit (6), Jasprit Bumrah (3), and Suryakumar Yadav (3).
• 16 – The total number of players used by Bengaluru in this IPL, which is the lowest in a season in their history. Overall, only three teams have used fewer players in a single IPL season – CSK with 14 in 2015, and Mumbai with 15 players in 2018 and 2020. Since the 'Impact Player' rule was implemented in 2023, no team has used fewer than 18 players in a season.
• 28 – The number of wickets taken by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in IPL 2026, which is the joint second-highest wickets taken by an Indian bowler in a single season. Harshal Patel took the highest 32 wickets in 2021, and Mohammed Shami also took 28 wickets in 2023. Surpassing Bhuvneshwar, Rabada won the 'Purple Cap' for the second time with 29 wickets. He joins Dwayne Bravo, Bhuvneshwar, and Harshal in the list of bowlers who have won the 'Purple Cap' twice.
• 37 years 207 days – Kohli's age in Sunday's match. With this, he became the second oldest player to be 'Player of the Match' in an IPL final. Anil Kumble was 38 years and 219 days old when he won this award in the 2009 final.
• 27 runs conceded for 3 wickets – Rasikh Salam's bowling performance on Sunday. This is the second-best bowling performance by any uncapped player in an IPL final. Earlier in 2014, Karanveer Singh had taken 4 wickets for 54 runs against KKR.