After 18 seasons filled with heartbreaks, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) finally clinched their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title in 2025.

RCB, led by Rajat Patidar, edged out Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six runs in a thrilling final at the Narendra Modi Stadium to lift the coveted trophy.

Following the elusive triumph, star batter Virat Kohli was captured in an emotional, teary-eyed state, marking a significant moment of relief for him after years of being trophyless with the Bengaluru-based franchise.

With barely a few days remaining for the IPL 2026 season, Kohli reflected on RCB’s long-awaited title win, describing a "sense of calm confidence" he felt upon reaching the final.

"I have been here since day one, and so has Mane (Team's masseur Ramesh Mane) Kaka. We are probably the oldest members of the RCB group, and to be very honest, when we reached the finals (against Punjab Kings), I felt a sense of calm confidence," Kohli said in a video shared by RCB on social media.

While Kohli was confident ahead of the final, he knew it was not going to be a cakewalk. "It is a final, and there is another team that has played really, really well to get there and obviously beaten a lot of good sides, so they are also very confident of what they want to do," he added.

Kohli mentioned that RCB's history of "near misses" in previous finals (such as 2009 and 2016) provided the team with "extra motivation to hold their nerve".

"Because the league has become so much more competitive, we must have played really good cricket to get to the finals. It is not a fluke, it is not by chance. We have beaten some really good teams, and we are an amazing side who have earned the right to be here on this day. All in all, it was an amazing night for all of us," he said.

"It was quite surreal for me honestly, quite unbelievable when it was all unfolding in the end. So many things flash in front of your eyes. The whole journey for 18 years, all the ups and downs, all the good moments, bad moments, it's like the accumulation of all of that is unfolding in front of you, and that is going to happen in the next 10 minutes. It is a very difficult thing to explain, it is a thing to experience."

Virat Kohli admitted that waiting for the last three balls of the final—after the result seemed sealed—was the "toughest part of the night".

"And that experience I will never ever forget. And especially the last over, where you know the game is sealed, hoping that Josh (Hazlewood) does not bowl a no-ball, which he never does. So there was a quiet confidence but still as I said you are hoping for the perfect result. So knowing that the game is beyond them and then to wait for those last three balls was probably the toughest part of the night," he remarked.

Kohli played an instrumental role in RCB’s first-ever IPL title win as he amassed 657 runs from 15 innings at a strike rate of 144.71, including eight half-centuries.