IPL 2026: RCB bags second win in a row, Virat Kohli shines, scores his fastest 50 in final

RCB vs GT, IPL 2026 Final: Virat Kohli has led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to IPL 2026 glory with a sensational knock of 75 in the final against Gujarat Titans.

Bureau,Odishabarta

Ahmedabad: Royal Challengers Bengaluru became only the third franchise in IPL history to win back-to-back titles, crushing Gujarat Titans by five wickets in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, joining Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians in that elite bracket.

The red army, 18 years in the making, now has two trophies in 12 months.

Gujarat Titans, who had arrived at the final with ambitions of their own, were never in the contest. RCB restricted them to 155 before Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 75 off 42 balls sealed a dominant chase, the veteran signing off with a six off the final delivery in front of a crowd where more than 80 per cent of the 90,000-plus in attendance had turned up in red.

The blueprint had been written in Qualifier 1, where RCB hammered Gujarat by 92 runs in Dharamsala. In the final, they simply reprinted it.

Bowling first after winning the toss, RCB dismantled the Gujarat top order with clinical efficiency. Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, two of the tournament’s leading run-scorers, fell inside the powerplay for the third time this season, leaving Gujarat at 26 for 2 in 3.4 overs.

Rasikh Salam Dar took three wickets, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar chipped in with key strikes and the Ahmedabad pitch, baked and sluggish in the 40-degree heat, did the rest.

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