Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Virat Kohli finally ended their jinx this season as the franchise won their maiden Indian Premier League title in 2025, beating Punjab Kings in a dramatic final encounter in Ahmedabad in June.
RCB had earned the choker's tag before this season as they never won the coveted trophy, despite being one of the celebrated sides in the league.
Before 2025, RCB had made it to the IPL final thrice in the past and had lost all three matches, but they finally managed to lift the curse this year by beating the Shreyas Iyer-led PBKS.
Add The Sporting News as a preferred news source
Virat Kohli was the top scorer of the side with 43 runs in 35 balls, while he was ably supported by Mayank Agarwal and captain Rajat Patidar as RCB posted 190 runs in 20 overs for the loss of nine wickets.
While chasing, Shashank Singh's 61-run innings had almost guided Punjab to their maiden title win, but they eventually fell short by six runs as RCB lifted the trophy.
READ: Virat Kohli to RCB youngster: “I’ll play like a lion
RCB director of cricket opens up on IPL 2025 final win
Many experts initially felt that RCB might have fallen short by some runs, as 191 was highly chasable on a batting-friendly Narendra Modi Stadium. RCB bowlers, however, proved the doubters wrong as they restricted the opposition to 184 runs.
Speaking on RCB's triumph in a dramatic final, director of cricket, Mo Bobat, told Cricbuzz: "If I’m honest, at half-time, I know some commentators thought we might have been 30 runs short. I thought we were about 10 runs short. I thought 200 was about right. But I thought we were one of the best bowling attacks in the competition, so we could earn those 10 runs back. I also thought chasing in a final had some pressure.
"A couple of days later, DK and I and a couple of the coaches watched the final back because I wanted to re-watch it ball by ball. When I went back a bit more impartially, I felt a bit more comfortable in the second innings, feeling like we were in a good place. But when you’re in the game, you feel more nervous than that, of course you do."
MORE: 'More than just a finisher' - Rinku Singh says he can bat in 'any position