'Ee Sala-nu Cup Namde'; King Kohli shines as RCB wins second IPL title in a row

AHMEDABAD: Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans in the IPL final to lift the IPL title for the second time in a row. Batting first, Gujarat set the target of 156 runs, and RCB chased it down in 18 overs for the loss of 5 wickets. Shubman Gill and his team were unable to mount a challenge worthy of the final at any stage of the match. Virat Kohli, who scored a half-century, was the top scorer for RCB.

Chasing the target, RCB got off to a great start with the openers. Venkatesh Iyer scored 32(16) as the team crossed the 50-run mark in just 21 balls. The partnership was broken when Iyer was dismissed in the fifth over. Devdutt Padikkal was dismissed quickly for 1(4). In the ninth over, captain Rajat Patidar 15(13) and Krunal Pandya 1(2) returned, leaving the score at 91 for four.

Gujarat were offered a slight hope at this stage, but the fact that Virat Kohli was able to hold his ground on one side gave RCB fans confidence. Meanwhile, the pressure eased as Tim David and Kohli added 41 runs. When Tim David was dismissed for 24 runs off 17 balls, RCB needed just 24 runs off 36 balls to win. Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 75* (42) and Jitesh Sharma 11* (14).

RCB bowlers ran the show in the final. For RCB, Rasikh Salam Dar took three wickets, Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets each and Krunal Pandya took one wicket.