table of contents
On Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore became the third team in IPL history to win the IPL title twice in a row. Rajat Patidar’s team defended their IPL title from 2025 at the same venue where they won the title last year.
RCB won by five wickets in the IPL 2026 final as they defeated Gujarat Titans on their home ground in Ahmedabad to lift two consecutive trophies.
Following the historic win, tributes and congratulations poured in from across the world, including from global sporting icons apart from cricket.
Virat Kohli gave second title to RCB
Like all things RCB, Virat Kohli was once again front and center of the proceedings, at least in the second innings.
Rajat Patidar’s decision to win the toss and bowl first on a seamed surface paid off. GT’s brilliant opening pair Sai Sudarshan and Shubman Gill both got out in the powerplay.
From there, the GT found no real way to recover from the initial shock. Nishant Sindhu’s surprise promotion did not go as planned and even Jos Buttler could not save the sinking ship.
Arshad Khan’s cameo was cut short, but Washington Sundar scored a half-century as Titans reached 155. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood took two wickets each, while Rasikh Salam took three wickets.
RCB came out with all its might to chase the small target. Venkatesh Iyer and Virat Kohli added 62 runs in just 4 and a half overs for their opening partnership.
By the end of the powerplay, the required run rate had dropped to less than 6 runs per over. And even though wickets fell at the other end, Kohli scored an unbeaten 75 to guide the defending champions to their second consecutive IPL title.
“Khela bold” – Shubman Gill congratulates RCB
After the defeat, Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill looked gracious and congratulated the winners. Gill posted a message for the Royal Challengers on Instagram.
“Brave play, Royal Challengers Bangalore deserve it,” Gill wrote on his Instagram story.
Shubham Gill Instagram story for RCB.#RCBvsGT #iplfinal #ShubhamGil pic.twitter.com/C6MzxWnvPe
– ⓈⒶⒽⓘⓁ (@SahilSinghadiya) June 1, 2026
England and Bayern Munich football star Harry Kane also joined the celebrations.
Kane has shared a friendship with Kohli over the years and has been a long-time fan of both him and the Royal Challengers Bangalore team.
Kane also uploaded a story on his Instagram congratulating the defending champions on winning consecutive IPL titles.
Kane wrote, “What a player and what an innings @virat.kohli! Congratulations to @royalchallengers.bengaluru on their back-to-back IPL titles.”
Football legend Harry Kane’s Instagram story for Virat Kohli
– RCB and Kohli are global brands…!!!! pic.twitter.com/5qexle0ptm
– Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) June 1, 2026
Faf du Plessis also congratulated RCB
Former RCB captain Faf du Plessis also took to his X account to congratulate the team. Du Plessis served as the captain of RCB between 2022 and 2024.
Read his tweet here:
Very good. It was called before IPL… Back to Back Champions!!!
Congratulations to @imVkohli, @rrjjt_01, Mo Bobt, Andy Flower and the entire @RCBTweets team.
From day one, this looked to be the most complete team of the competition. Consistent, clinical and worthy champion.…
– Faf du Plessis (@faf1307) May 31, 2026
Also read: No Virat Kohli! Rajat Patidar names the RCB captain who shaped his leadership journey