An emotional Virat Kohli dedicated his maiden IPL title to his former teammates AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle, stating how much "we tried to win this."
Kohli, who got emotional as he recalled how he gave Royal Challengers Bengaluru his "youth, prime and experience", said De Villiers and Gayle gave their heart and soul to make the franchise a success.
Bengaluru beat Punjab Kings by six runs in the final in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on Tuesday. Kohli has been with the franchise since the inaugural 2008 edition of the league and had to wait for 18 years to lift the title.
As for De Villiers, the former South Africa wicketkeeper-batter played for Bengaluru from 2011-2021 while ex-West Indies all-rounder Gayle represented them from 2011 to 2017.
"We were such a good team and we had that explosiveness in our team but we could never cross the line and all of us have that hurt because we gave our prime years to this franchise and we really, really from the bottom of our hearts wanted to win that title for RCB. I promise you this feels like 10 times more special just because of the fact that these two are standing next to us," Kohli said.
Both De Villiers and Gayle were with the audience and later joined the Bengaluru team on the podium to raise the trophy."
“I’m going to feel the real side of it when we get to Bengaluru tomorrow and celebrate this with the city” - Virat Kohli ❤️🙌
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) June 4, 2025
King Kohli walks into the dressing room with ABD, talks about Rajat’s leadership, Jitesh’s smartness, and the team coming together to achieve this… pic.twitter.com/aqLY7LHvvE
The former RCB captain also choked on his tears as he recalled his journey with the team. Kohli was seen covering his mouth with cupped hands in disbelief as RCB finally ended the campaign with the win.
"It's been 18 long years," an emotional Kohli said, calling the experience "unbelievable". "I never thought this day would come. I was overcome with emotions as soon as the last ball was bowled."
Moments he will never forget 🏆
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) June 3, 2025
Moments they will never forget 🤩
🎥 Virat Kohli 🤝 The #RCB faithful ❤#TATAIPL | #RCBvPBKS | #Final | #TheLastMile | @RCBTweets | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/ObyJxRI0C0
He said he had stayed loyal to this team. "I've had moments when I thought otherwise, but I stuck to this team. I stood behind them and they stood behind me. I always dreamt of winning it with them, and this is far more special than winning it with anyone else..."This is the team I'm going to play for till the last day in IPL," he said, adding that he was going to sleep like a baby.
