After smashing his fastest IPL fifty to lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their second consecutive IPL title, Indian superstar Virat Kohli said he needs a shift in perspective and some encouragement from “super young” players to reinvent his T20 game.
He achieved his long-cherished dream of scoring the winning runs for the team on Sunday in the IPL final against Gujarat Titans.
The cornerstone of RCB’s second IPL title was Kohli’s undefeated 75, and the great is quite happy with the level of consistency he displayed this season.
“(It is the) stuff you dream of. (I) thought of this moment many times, wanting to hit the winning run,” PTI quoted Kohli as saying at the post-match presentation ceremony.
When questioned about his 25-ball half-century, Kohli showed why he would always be a student of the game.
“Such is the demand (that) super young players (are) pushing you to up the ante,” he said in jest, but the seriousness of his statement wasn’t lost on anyone.
“I had to change my mindset, not my game so much, take on bowlers and get extra runs,” he added.
The fact that eight different cricketers earned Player of the Match in the first ten games this season has pleased Kohli.
“We’ve had to wait for so long and then just to have a group of guys where you feel like you’re stepping onto the ground, you don’t need to be the one to step up every time,” Kohli said.
“These guys are behind you (and) around you, who can win games of cricket for you. We have so many Man of the Match awards spread throughout the group as well.”
“You look at world-class bowling of Hoff (Josh Hazlewood), Bhuv (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), Duff (Jacob Duffy), and Krunal Pandya – you can bank on him as good as ever – Rasikh (Salam) Dar was brilliant this season,” Kohli said.
According to Kohli, the type of team that RCB management has fielded over the past two seasons has made a difference.
“I felt really relaxed coming in. The team we have gives confidence to see any kind of situation through. (We) knew exactly what to do in the chase.”
He also meticulously explained how they respected each and every other opponent while not caring which team was playing.
“Our first target was to go top of the table. We didn’t care what jersey was in front of us thereon. We are respectful, don’t poke any team. We have mature professionals and experience shines through.”
He believes that it is the stars cricketers’ responsibility to win the big matches.
“Come the big situation, you need the big boys to step up. I know it’s a chase and they’ll look to get me out early, but I knew we have a champion side that can chase it down with 3-4 overs to go.”
Kohli recalls what Director of Cricket Mo Bobat told them following their first victory in 2025 after 17 unsuccessful seasons.
“When we won last year, Mo Bobat said this is not the end of the journey and we had to go back-to-back. At the start of the chase, I told Venky (Venkatesh Iyer) that we need to kill the game in the powerplay. There was total clarity.”
According to Kohli, this year’s final felt very different from the previous one.
“I said to a few of the boys that it doesn’t feel like the same pressure as last year, we knew what kind of ability we have in the group. We topped the table, there’s a reason why we got here first and we just said one thing, ‘if we stick to our cricket, if we execute our plans, we are the best team in the competition’ and there’s a reason why we’ve done well so far,” he said.
After a brief break in the season, Kohli claimed that RCB was put to the test. However, a close victory over the Mumbai Indians in Raipur gave the team hope again.
“After the break, we had a couple of losses; I mean, one loss, and then we had a close win against MI. I’d say that week for us was a bit tricky because we wanted to finish top, but as soon as we got there, (with the) win against MI, the belief kicked back in, then we had a comprehensive win against KKR and then, yeah, just ended up topping the table and just on our way to the finals,” Kohli said.
He also acknowledged RCB’s devoted fans.
“We have 14 home games, not seven, we have fans behind us all the time… 90 per cent fans are on our side despite it being GT’s home ground.”
