Kohli powers Bengaluru to ‘dream stuff’ in back-to-back IPL titles | Cricket News

Having never won the Indian Premier League, Virat Kohli sealed back-to-back titles as Gujarat Titans were defeated.

Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 75 and inspired bowling led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their second consecutive Indian Premier League title with a five-wicket win over Gujarat Titans.

Bengaluru restricted Gujarat to 155-8, a total they chased down with 12 balls to spare after Kohli reached his fifth half-wicket of the season in an overtime match in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

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list of 4 itemsend of series

Kohli sealed the victory with a six-wicket haul to cap a magnificent 42-ball innings with four fours and three sixes, then pointed as the Bengaluru players rushed to celebrate.

Bengaluru, led by Rajat Patidar, and Kohli have been on a roll since winning their maiden IPL crown in 18 Tests last year. They finished top of the 10-team table after this season’s league stage.

“Things you dream about. I thought about this moment many times, I want to hit the winning run,” said the 37-year-old Kohli, who was named the player of the game.

“I felt comfortable coming in. The team we have gives us confidence that we can overcome any challenge. I knew exactly what to do in the chase. This is important (with) young players who are pushing to improve.”

Kohli also said: “We knew the talent we have in this team, and we just said one thing, ‘If we stick to our cricket, if we do what we have planned, then we are the best team in the tournament.'”

Kohli’s iconic 18 jersey dominated the pitches at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the world’s largest cricket stadium which saw a crowd of over 90,000 on Sunday.

Kohli and fellow opener Venkatesh Iyer, who hit 32 off 16 balls, got Bengaluru off to a good start in a 62-run partnership.

Mohammed Siraj broke the streak when he dismissed Iyer and Kagiso Rabada dismissed Devdutt Padikkal at the other end.

Rashid Khan struck twice to send the Patidars back for 15 and Krunal Pandya to lift Gujarat’s hopes.

But Tim David and Kohli scored 41 runs in reply. David fell for 24 but Kohli saw off the team with Jitesh Sharma in company.

Kohli has retired from Test and T20 cricket and is only playing the ODI format for India.

Patidar joined the ranks of IPL captains to win back-to-back titles. MS Dhoni did well with Chennai Super Kings in 2010 and 2011, while Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to glory in 2019 and 2020.

“This year was calm with the way we played in all the games,” Patidar told reporters, as he celebrated his 33rd birthday. “My captaincy is different. I don’t talk but I know how the game is played.”

Bengaluru’s run led to victory as Rasikh Salam featured with 3-27 in a structured attack along with Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who took two wickets each.

The trio justified the decision to put Gujarat to bat, bat early and often. Only Washington Sundar made the biggest rejection as he scored 50 not out.

Hazlewood struck first when he removed skipper Shubman Gill for 10 when Patidar took a good catch.

Kumar removed another opener, Sai Sudharsan, for the next 12 overs.

Both Gill and Sudharsan were in the race for the Orange Cap given to the highest run-scorer in an IPL season, but Rajasthan Royals’ 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi finished top of the list with 776 runs.

Young lifter Sooryavanshi was named player of the tournament and also won the emerging player award.

Gill (732) and Sudharsan (722) finished second and third in the run charts. Kohli was fourth with 675.

Nishant Sindhu, who made 20, and Jos Buttler tried to control Gujarat’s innings but faced a poor attack and Salam soon dismissed Sindhu.

Krunal Pandya was stumped by Buttler for 19 off the left-arm spinner and Gujarat slumped to 73-4.

“We have some top opponents but we haven’t been able to play well,” Gujarat batting coach Matthew Hayden said. “I thought it was a very good performance for RCB.”

Wickets continued to fall but Sundar stood firm to reach his fifty in the 20th over.

The effort was not enough as Gujarat finished runners-up for the second time in three finals. Their only win came in their first season in 2022.