Courtesy: BCCI/IPL
Self-help books don't teach you how to do it, they merely show you the way. Ditto for life coaches, they can put an arm around your shoulders and pat your back. But it's you who has to get up and perform. No lectures from parents, no life advice from gurus, well wishers, cousins or loved ones can do it, it never will. It's always you and you alone.
And it makes perfect sense, too. For years, they were taunted, hit below the belt. You felt criticism was okay; but the RCB were hammered. It was almost like and for a good eighteen-year-period, theirs was a journey where there was a tug of war on the cricket pitch as also off it.
On the one hand, there was the hammering of the defeat and the pain that RCB had to deal with, despite making it to three previous IPL finals, but losing each one, in 2009, 2011 and even, 2016.
And on the other hand, there was the criticism that one should never have to deal with, but did they even have a choice? Forget lewd comments, hateful, inciteful memes; besides social media trolling, the RCB had to deal with the vengeful tag of being the IPL's perennial "chokers".
Each time, we say that to the Proteas, whether or not we mean it with absolute seriousness, we can't even imagine how much pain the 'C' word brings to South Africa. But then imagine the pain the Royal Challengers Bangalore had to endure when despite playing honestly, with fervent passion as only they can bring to the fore, they had to bear with the non-sense?
But then, at the end of it all, life goes on. It does. Nothing ever changes, except that days turn into nights and hope is lost, eventually because you try so hard and despite giving it everything, you end up losing.
But does it?
Does hope burn out completely? Do you give in? Did Virat Kohli give in to pressure? Did his comrades at the Bangalore outfit give up?
From heatbreak to ecstasy: RCB's story across 18 IPL seasons
Forget June 3, 2025. Forget about it, just for a second. Let's rewind back the clocks.
In 2009, the first time when the heartbreak was felt by them, RCB went down to (the then) Deccan Chargers by 6 runs. Just 6 runs.
They were made fun of in Jo'burg, not even Bangalore.
Two years later, in 2011, they tried again but lost. Once more. This time the hate was bigger and the trolling on a larger scale. Bangalore went down to a new foe; CSK lifted the IPL crown after smashing, really smashing the RCB by 58 runs. Huge margin. No, massive margin of victory.
But for Bangalore, it was another defeat.
A lot was said back then. Change the coach. Bring new batters. Up the bowling arsenal. Get in the match-winners.
And they did. Gayle, world's best T20 smasher of the white cricket ball soon came in. AB De Villiers came in as well. But one man kept persisting on his own. There was no change at his end. He kept at it.
The name? Virat Kohli. The mission? Lift the IPL trophy.
And so we thought, with this massively impressive and very eager, hopeful trinity, glory would come in 2016. But did it?
Virat Kohli, truth be told, took the entire team's big scoring responsibility on his own shoulders five years after the 2011 heartbreak. Which other IPL batsman has scored nearly 1000 IPL runs and still not made it to the cup?
Virat Kohli became that odd one out. It seemed, in lighter, weirder vein that, beside batting brilliance, failures went after him.
Remember, he didn't fail as a batter. How can you when you score runs at an average of 81? 81, let that sink in. But even that wasn't enough. Nor was AB De Villiers scoring nearly 700 on his own.
The RCB still went down to another foe called the SRH, but only this time by a margin of 8 runs.
For the second time in three defeats in a final did they lose by a single-digit margin. A classic case of being yet so close, but ultimately so far.
And now, cut to June 3, 2025. What changed?
Nothing. Quite literally, nothing in their approach to the IPL final clash. They kept practicising. They kept playing a consistent, inspiringly consistent brand of cricket. All of them. Gayle and AB long being history and ditto for first Watson, and later Faf, the RCB contingent kept playing a good, clean brand of cricket.
Alongside Virat Kohli, a new pantheon of talents emerged contending for the 2025 IPL crown, these being- Phil Salt, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rajat Patidar and Suyash Singh.
But once again, what didn't change, beyond the immediate ecosystem of Bangalore's impassioned fans, was their share of critics; those armchair activists, self proclaimed cricket experts and when not, then 'journalists' who work for manufactured increase of TRP's instead of real reportage. They kept trolling the RCB and making fun of the franchise, whether in loud sporting debates or when not, then on social media. Their choice of weapon? Cringe memes.
Nothing else.
However, back inside the fold of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, they never stopped hoping. Although, hope wasn't enough; they kept putting in the hard yards. Remember there may have been times where the worst possible or the least gifted or discerning among cricket thinkers would have ended up giving them advice as to how to win an IPL crown, that until 2 June, 2025 seemed elusive.
But deep inside, beyond the cacophony of 'do this.. do that', the RCB knew they had to stick as one unit. And what happened? Look what happened? They downed the spirited Punjab, a team as spirited as a free floating kite dancing in a hurricane. As if they pricked their flight with one big collective punch.
Virat Kohli: The Only Constant Across 18 Years of IPL for RCB
The hero of the moment might be Virat Kohli and understandably so. Because he's someone who wears not just his mindset on his sleeve; but quite literally, as seen this season, the number of years he's waited for the IPL crown as his RCB jersey.
18.
But the knockout punch delivered to their opponents was a collective hit. A hit that Punjab accepted, of course, reluctantly for who wants to lose. But let it be known that somewhere, just somewhere more impressionable than Punjab's desire to win was RCB's self belief.
And despite what all trollers ended up saying to them, not always the kindest of words, the RCB didn't stop believing. So if one wishes to understand the true significance of the 2025 title triumph, let it be known that never stop believing. No matter what. Irrespective of who tells you what.
Dream on.
However, this time around, this is reality.
And the truth is that, RCB are winners. Winners, finally. The love affair with T20 cricket continues and so does their passion at getting better at it. This time, however, they weren't just better than those who played against them. They were the best.
Congrats.
