IPL 2025 Final: Five things that were crucial in ending an 18-year wait for Kohli, who has played for RCB since the IPL’s start and also wears jersey No. 18:
RCB versus PBKS IPL 2025 Final Highlights: Virat Kohli’s 18-year wait ended on Tuesday when Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six runs to win their first Indian Premier League (IPL) title at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. PBKS scored 184/7 in 20 overs were chasing a 191-run victory.
Here are the five elements that were essential in ending an 18-year wait for Kohli, who has played for RCB since the IPL’s start and also wears jersey number 18:
Virat Kohli top scores in all-important final.
No one was more excited than Virat Kohli to win the IPL this season. In his fourth IPL final, and first since 2016, RCB’s former captain top scored for his team, which ultimately proved pivotal. Kohli, on the other hand, used 35 balls to hit 43 runs with a strike rate of 122.86, including no sixes and three boundaries. Kohli was hoping to bat through like he typically does in important games, but a brilliant sprinting catch by Azmatullah Omarzai off his own bowling ended Kohli’s time in the middle.
Arshdeep Singh’s Comeback
Punjab Kings relied on their pace leader, Arshdeep Singh, to perform well in the big game. However, the left-arm pacer allowed 37 runs in his first three overs. With RCB on 187/6, Arshdeep was summoned back into the attack to bowl the final over of the innings. Arshdeep allowed a single on the first delivery before trapping Romario Shepherd with an outswinging yorker. After surrendering another single, Arshdeep had Krunal Pandya caught by Shreyas Iyer for his second wicket. Yash Dayal then took a single off the next delivery, followed by Arshdeep having Bhuvneshwar Kumar caught by Priyansh Arya on the penultimate ball of the innings, finishing with statistics reading 4-0-40-3. His efforts enabled Punjab to restrict RCB to 190/9 in 20 overs.
Punjab openers’ cameos were cut brief.
Chasing 191, Punjab Kings got off to a good start with openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh going for it from the start, putting up a 43-run stand in 5 overs. Priyansh Arya scored 24 runs off 19 balls, including four boundaries, before being dismissed by Josh Hazlewood when Phil Salt made a superb catch under pressure. Salt demonstrated superb reflexes by catching the ball near the boundary ropes and then tossing it to keep it in play after he realized he was about to cross the boundary. He regained his equilibrium by stepping across the rope before quickly returning inside to complete the grab.
Prabhsimran Singh, who was dropped by Romario Shepherd off Hazlewood at 9, hit two sixes in one over by Suyash Sharma, propelling PBKS to 70/1 in 8 overs before the strategic timeout. That interruption appeared to derail PBKS’ momentum, as Prabhsimran fell to Krunal Pandya after hitting a 22-ball 26.
Shreyas Iyer’s Failure:
PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer, who hit a match-winning knock against Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 to propel his club to the final, failed on the big day. Shepherd claimed the Punjab captain’s wicket when Iyer edged a wide delivery that landed inside Jitesh Sharma’s gloves. Iyer fell for one of two deliveries.
Krunal Pandya’s match-winning spell:
Krunal Pandya used all of his experience to help his team win the match. Pandya cleverly altered the length and pace of his deliveries, keeping the Punjab batsmen guessing till the last moment. The outcome was a brilliant and economical stint that contained two crucial wickets. Pandya first dismissed Prabhsimran before having Liam Livingstone catch Josh Inglis on the long-on boundary to end his lone battle. Pandya concluded his innings with 4-0-17-2 as Punjab fell short of the 191-run target.
