Mohammad Kaif hailed the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Virat Kohli for clinching the Indian Premier League title last year. Now, RCB and Kohli take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2026 opener, and they will be hoping to begin their title defence on a winning note.
RCB and Kohli finished as the runners-up on three occasions: in 2009, 2011 and 2016. They have also made it to the playoffs in ten of the last 18 seasons.
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Taking to X, Kaif pointed out it took 18 years for RCB to finally clinch the title. It was also Kohli’s maiden IPL title and he has played for RCB since the inaugural edition in 2008.
“It has taken 18 years for RCB and Virat Kohli to earn the privilege of being called defending champions. One of this season’s attractions will be to watch an in-form Virat hungry for more. RCB and Virat – what a story. They never gave up, they kept trying. Life is a marathon, have patience, keep running, you will reach your goals”, he wrote.
Kohli stepped down from the captaincy after the 2021 season and Faf du Plessis was named as skipper. Current skipper Rajat Patidar became RCB skipper ahead of the 2025 season.
Kohli is the all-time leading run-scorer in IPL history with 8661 runs in 267 matches. He also has the official record for most runs scored in a single season (973 runs in 2016) and the most career tons in IPL (8). Ahead of the 2025 mega auction, RCB retained him for ₹21 crore.
During the 2025 campaign, he registered 657 runs in 15 matches with a batting average of 54.75 and 144.71 strike rate. In the final, he got 43 runs vs PBKS as RCB ended their 18-year title drought and got their maiden IPL trophy.
