The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) ended the 18-year wait of winning their first-ever IPL title and they did so by defeating the Punjab Kings in the final of the 2025 season at the Narendra Modi stadium. It was a very emotional moment especially for Virat Kohli, who has been featuring for the franchise since the inaugural season of the league. The 36-year-old couldn't control his emotions and his tears started to flow once the final delivery of the match got bowled and RCB emerged victorious.
Kohli made a bold remark after winning IPL 2025 final
However, after winning the IPL final in Ahmedabad, Kohli made a bold statement and claimed that the tournament falls five stages lower than Test cricket. His statement completely downplayed the importance of IPL in comparision to red-ball cricket.
"This moment is right up there with the best moments I’ve had in my career. But it still marks five levels under Test cricket. That’s how much I value Test cricket. And that’s how much I love Test cricket," Kohli said after the match.
West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell replied to Kohli's comment about IPL, stating that it is easy for cricketers from the likes of India, Australia and England to get lucrative contracts to play red-ball cricket. He added that central contracts are completely diffferent when it comes to the West Indies.
“I think when you’re from India, Australia, England, those places where they look after their Test players, it’s totally different to being from West Indies,” says Russell. “Those guys get lucrative central contracts to play Test cricket and play on the biggest stages, of course they want to play. West Indians? You might play 50 or 100 Tests and you know, after you retire, there’s not much to show for it," Russell told The Guardian.
Russell, who has only played a single Test for the West Indies in his career so far, claimed that he was pushed out of the set-up as the management considered him to be a better player in white-ball formats.
“I was basically pushed out of the Test set-up. They saw me as more of a white-ball player and that was that," Russell added.
As opposed to Test cricket, Russell has played 56 ODIs and 83 T20Is for the West Indies so far and is still an active member in their squad in the shortest format. The 37-year-old has 1034 and 1064 runs under his belt in ODIs and T20Is respectively. The all-rounder has also played a total of 11 IPL seasons for the Kolkata Knight Riders and is likely to feature for the franchise next season as well.