The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) were crowned IPL 2025 champions following their six-run victory over the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the final at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. It was quite an emotional moment especially for Virat Kohli, who has been featuring for the franchise since the inaugural IPL season and had tasted defeat in three IPL finals before.
Kohli's childhood coach said that the whole country wanted RCB to win the final
The star cricketer's childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma stated that the whole country wanted RCB to win and were waiting for this moment. He also showered praise on Kohli for being consistently good in every IPL season he has played in and also credited him for being the 'backbone' of the Bengaluru-based franchise.
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"The whole country, not only RCB fans, wanted Virat should win this trophy. He (Virat Kohli) was very emotional, happy and excited because it was long-awaited and he was waiting for this moment for a very long time. He has been the most consistent batsman if you start from 2008; hardly any season would have been a failure for him. So, he has been a consistent player, he has been the backbone of RCB since the inception of IPL...We will celebrate in a big way," Rajkumar told ANI.
Kohli also reflected on the emphatic victory, stating that he has tried to win the tournament every season with the franchise, but due to the consistent failures, thought that the day would never come where he would lift the IPL trophy.
"The whole country, not only RCB fans, wanted Virat should win this trophy. He (Virat Kohli) was very emotional, happy and excited because it was long-awaited and he was waiting for this moment for a very long time. He has been the most consistent batsman if you start from 2008; hardly any season would have been a failure for him. So, he has been a consistent player, he has been the backbone of RCB since the inception of IPL...We will celebrate in a big way," Kohli said at the post-match presentation.
Despite having won countless honours on the international stage with the Indian team, Kohli wasn't able to control his emotions and tears started to flow when RCB defeated PBKS to finally end the 18-year wait and become IPL champions. As soon as Shashank Singh hit the final ball of the match for a boundary, the entire RCB team rushed towards their star player and embraced him in a heartfelt group hug.