Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) created history by becoming the newest winners of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six runs in the final of the 2025 edition on Tuesday, June 3. After becoming the IPL winner for the first-time ever, Virat Kohli teared up at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in front of more than 90,000 fans in attendance, following which his wife and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma came down to the ground from the grandstand, to give him a big hug, which was quite an emotional one to say the least.
In the grand finale, RCB posted a competitive total of 190/9 on the board on the back of a 35-ball 43 from Virat Kohli, while the likes of Mayank Agarwal, captain Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone, and Jitesh Sharma scored fiery cameos. PBKS never got ahead of the required run rate in the chase despite a decent beginning from the likes of Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, and Josh Inglis before Shashank Singh dragged them within six runs of the target.
Virat Kohli overcame with emotion in final over of IPL 2025 final with RCB in winning position
When Josh Hazlewood bowled a couple of dot balls at the start of the final over of the PBKS innings while defending 28 runs, Virat Kohli overcame with emotion on the field, knowing that RCB will cross the finishing line in the IPL final at long last. Although Shashank Singh did hit three sixes and one four in the final four balls of the innings, it wasn’t enough for his team to secure the title win.
In the post-match chat, Virat Kohli spoke at length about winning the IPL title for the first-time in his career, and said, as per ESPNcricinfo, “As I said, I've given everything that I had for the last 18 years. I've stayed loyal to this team, no matter what. I've had moments where I thought otherwise, but I stuck to this team. I stood behind them, they stood behind me. And I always dreamt of winning it with them. And this is far more special than winning it with anyone else because my heart is with Bangalore, my soul is with Bangalore.”
“And as I said, this is the team I'm going to play for till the last day that I play the IPL. So this one is absolutely right up there because you know, as a sportsman, when you grind for something, and this is a very high intensity, high quality tournament, which is of great value in world cricket today. And I'm someone that wants to win the big tournaments, the big moments, and this one was missing. And tonight, I'm going to sleep like a baby,” he added.
