Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Finally, they did it. It took them a while, well, actually, if you think about it then a really long time. But the end achievement is that they actually did it. The RCB, chokers to many of their lame critics are actual IPL champions. It was a win for the ages. It was a triumph, as seen yesterday against the spirited PBKS team, that came after 17 long years of trying.
The very number engraved on their best batter's jersey, after eighteen long years of trying and often in vain, the RCB hung in there and managed to lift a deserving IPL crown by defeating Punjab by 6 runs.
And it was a total team effort and one that was to savour, actually. But having said that, in staking claim in glory so ardently sought, which were the batters who helped them see the light at the end of the tunnel and basis of whose efforts was the team, in the end, able to emerge victorious?
We present you the top RCB batters in this season:
Virat Kohli
They won it for him. They did it for the king. But if you were to ask Virat Kohli, he won it for the team and the win belongs to the team, but of course. The always selfless and giving and purely passionate athlete, much unsurprisingly so, put together the most number of runs for his IPL stable, scoring 657 of them on his own.
Even if his final knock was far from fluent, Kohli kept ticking the right boxes and rotating the strike and enforced himself onto the 22 yards by taking the innings deep.
The rest played around him, as do the soldiers around the knight. The end result: a valiant team win.
Phil Salt
The brave English right-hander actually didn't make that many runs yesterday, except he hit the first runs and the quick ones too, during his impactful, albeit brief knock of 16. But to give one of the kind of form that Salt was in, before the mega final, it helps to note his three previous IPL scores: 56 not out vs PBKS (the RCB final opponents), 30 vs LSG and previously, 62 vs SRH.
On the whole, Salt, all of 28, was the second-most scorer of the 2025 season for Bengaluru, in which he made 403 runs and this year itself, he went past the 1000-run tally where IPL runs are concerned.
Rajat Patidar
Cometh the hour, cometh the man, is what they say when the chips are down and there's pressure. But then not all batters succumb to it, some crave it and excel in difficult situations.
Patidar, the calm-headed bloke, is one such talent and what a moment it was for him that the RCB raised glory under his fine leadership.
On the whole, Patidar, the third-highest run-maker for the red camp, scored no fewer than 312 runs for Bangalore this season, but what's most emphatic is the fact that a few hours ago when they really needed to march on to a big score, the right-hander delivered.
It might not have been a huge knock but the 16-ball-26 was a fantastic exhibition of big scoring, especially when the likes of Salt and Agarwal were back to the dugout.
Played captain!
Jitesh Sharma
One of the nicest and most sincerest of all RCB batters, Jitesh Sharma is now the beholder of an IPL trophy with a team that really craved it for eighteen long years. How good a feeling might that be, one reckons? But while that sort of happiness can't be put into words, what certainly can be, however, is the feeling that Jitesh Sharma brought to the crease yesterday when RCB really needed some runs when even the great Virat Kohli had returned to the dugout.
He took just 10 odd deliveries to score what became a rampant, very eye-pleasing 24 runs and that knock at a strike rate of 240 with the RCB, needed plenty of more runs to challenge Punjab had its own significance.
Previously, a few weeks ago, he had made a rampant unbeaten 84 against the LSG side.
On the whole, Jitesh made 261 runs for the RCB this season, their fourth-most run scorer in a season to remember for the ages. The keeper-batter now needs 9 more IPL runs for reaching the 1000-run tally. His strike rate, thus far, has been terrific at 157.
