Royal Challengers Bengaluru are entering the IPL 2026 from unfamiliar ground. For years, they were the franchise mocked for falling short despite carrying some of the tournament’s biggest names. That tag finally disappeared in 2025, when RCB broke through for their first IPL title. Now comes the harder part: defending it.
That reality framed the mood at RCB’s first training session of the new season at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where Virat Kohli delivered a pointed message to the squad. The warning was simple: winning the title once has changed nothing unless RCB are ready to match that hunger all over again, because the rest of the league will now come at them harder.
“We worked really hard over the last two to three seasons to achieve what we did last year, and it’s only going to get tougher because the other teams are going to come hard at us,” Kohli was heard saying in a video uploaded by the franchise on their social media.
The statement, the warning and the inspiration in that statement defined RCB’s new position. Last season, they were chasing a breakthrough that had eluded them for 17 years. This time, they walk in as champions, with a target on their back and expectations that will be heavier from the first game itself. Kohli’s words, delivered to a small group largely composed of Indian squad members, were meant to ensure the shift is understood immediately.
“We don’t waste these days. We stay ahead. So, switch on now. Let’s not waste even a minute of every session we are part of. We must give our 120% for these two and a half months. I can see from everyone’s faces that we are excited enough to be challengers,” he added.
“We’ve improved our squad”: Andy Flower
The larger contest to that message is RCB’s transformation under head coach Andy Flower and Director of Cricket Mo Bobat. After years of leaning too heavily on reputation and star value, the franchise found greater balance through a more methodical T20 approach and a squad built around role clarity. That change delivered the title in 2025, when RCB beat the Punjab Kings in the final in Ahmedabad.
Flower’s message at the session mirrored Kohli’s in tone, even if it came from a more structural angle. Where Kohli pushed urgency and intensity, Flower focused on growth, integration, and the need to reset quickly, despite the success of the previous season.
“We had an interesting auction. I think we’ve improved our squad, to be quite frank,” Flower said in the video. “We brought in some great new additions. So, integrating those new players into the RCB way with some of the established players, obviously led by Virat and Rajat, is an exciting part of building a new team together,” he added.
“If there is one difference this year, we have actually got a star on our shirts. So that is a very proud feeling to have for all RCBians. One thing that I would emphasise, though, is that the season’s gone and now we have a new challenge ahead of us, and it’s a really exciting challenge. We’re here to win this year’s IPL,” said Flower.
Together, Kohli and Flower shaped the clearest early statement of RCB’s season. There is pride in finally wearing the mark of champions, but no sense of comfort. Kohli’s message was a warning against drift. Flower’s was a reminder that last year’s success guarantees nothing. For RCB, IPL 2026 begins not with celebration, but with the demand to prove that the title was not the end of the story.
