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Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have made Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, their favourite hunting ground for the Indian Premier League (IPL) finals. On May 31, RCB beat Gujarat Titans (GT) to win their second consecutive IPL title. This time, Virat Kohli realised his dream of scoring the winning runs in the final. The ‘Player of the match’ Kohli had enough support in the stadium despite it being GT’s homeground. After the five-wicket win over the home side, Kohli thanked RCB fans for cheering the team wherever they go. He felt that 90 per cent of the spectators in the stadium are RCB fans.
“I always say we don’t have seven home games. We probably have 14 because everywhere we go, we have fans cheering the team and, you know, really getting behind us. I mean, GT is probably the home side, but you see 90 percent of the guys are RCB fans. So that’s what we’ve earned over the years and we just continue to make them proud and try to put our best foot forward,” Kohli told the broadcasters after RCB’s comprehensive win.
“Their support is priceless and really happy that they can celebrate us lifting the trophy tonight and witness that.”
Kohli strikes higher than few modern T20 players and big-hitters
Kohli finished the season as fourth-highest run-scorer. From 16 games, he scored 675 runs at an average of 56.25 and strike rate of 165.84, including a century and five fifties. His strike rate is higher than GT's Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler, Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) Mitchell Marsh, and, Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) Heinrich Klaasen who are among top 10 run-scorers in the season.
Kohli 2nd oldest ‘POTM’ winner in an IPL final
Kohli also became the second-oldest to win the 'Player of the match' award in an IPL final at the age of 37 years and 207 days. He surpassed former teammate Faf du Plessis on the list who won the award for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in IPL 2021 final, aged at 37 years and 94 days. The top spot belongs to Kohli's former teammate and former head coach Anil Kumble. In IPL 2009 final, despite the defeat, former RCB captain Kumble won the award, aged 38 years and 219 days.
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