Virat Kohli was extremely excited as his eyes lay on Krunal Pandya’s son. Kohli was with Anushka Sharma on the field at the Narendra Modi Stadium after Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2026 final. While Kohli and Anushka waited for the post-match presentation, Krunal walked past holding his son and was stopped by Kohli and Anushka.
Kohli immediately hugged his RCB teammate’s son and pulled his cheeks in excitement. The former RCB skipper also exchanged some words with the boy as Anushka stood, watching in amusement.
The IPL 2026 final began with RCB captain Rajat Patidar winning the toss and opting to bowl. GT got off to a shocking start with the bat, losing both their openers in the power play. GT captain Shubman Gill (10) lost his wicket to Josh Hazlewood in the third over. Then in the next over, it was his opening partner Sai Sudharsan’s (12) turn as he lost his wicket to Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The collapse soon continued as Nishan Sindhu (20) and Jos Buttler (19) failed to build on their starts. Despite Washington Sundar remaining unbeaten with a 37-ball 50, the batting order totally crumbled.
Arshad Khan (15), Rahul Tewatia (7), Jason Holder (7) and Rashid Khan (7) flopped with the bat. Meanwhile, Rasikh Salam took a three-wicket haul for RCB. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood took two wickets each as RCB restricted GT to 155/8 in 20 overs.
Chasing 156 runs, RCB got off to a strong start, courtesy of Venkatesh Iyer’s quickfire 16-ball 32, as he took on the opposition in his short onslaught in the powerplay, slamming four fours and two sixes. Meanwhile, Kohli took up the anchor role. Although GT did respond, removing Devdutt Padikkal (1) and Rajat Patidar (15), Krunal Pandya (1) inside nine overs. But Tim David’s arrival saw RCB build a partnership between him and Kohli.
Kohli also reached his fastest IPL fifty, off just 25 balls. David eventually departed for 24 off 17 balls. But Kohli kept up the momentum, eventually taking RCB to 161/5 in 18 overs, with an unbeaten 42-ball 75, packed with nine fours and three sixes. For GT, Rashid Khan took two wickets.
Kohli was also adjudged as the Player of the Match. Speaking after the game, he said, “Well, it’s the stuff that you dream of. I’ve thought of this moment many times, that, you know, once when we win the IPL, I should be standing there hitting the winning runs and tonight it was possible. So yeah, just a dream day for us. And as I mentioned straight after the game as well, we just felt really relaxed coming to the game today and really confident about how we wanted to go about our game and what kind of team we have. And that gives you confidence to just, you know, see any kind of situation through.”
