Virat Kohli (43 off 35 balls) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) Trophy after a long wait of 17 years after beating Punjab Kings by six runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday night.

IPL 2025 final: RCB defeats PBKS by six wickets, lifts first-ever title after 17 years

A spectacular catch at the boundary ropes by Phill Salt to send back Priyansh Arya (24 off 19 balls) gave RCB the opening they were looking for while defending 190. Thereafter, PBKS kept losing wickets at regular intervals, including that of their hero of the last match, skipperShreyas Iyer, who was dismissed off a nothing delivery.

RCB’s Krunal Pandya is ecstatic after claiming the wicket of Josh Inglis

Salt, who otherwise functions as a wicketkeeper, showed great athleticism and quick thinking to convert a possible six into a brilliant catch with two attempts at the square leg ropes to send back Arya and the entire RCB team rushed to the boundary to lift him as the scales tilted in their favour.
Disciplined and miserly bowling by almost every RCB bowler helped keep the PBKS batters on a tight leash as the game in front of the 91,419 partisan RCB fans got closer as it progressed.

Earlier, opting to field, Shreyas Iyer judiciously used his bowling resources by giving them short spells and often changing their ends like he did in the Qualifier 2 against Mumbai Indians last Sunday. And it paid dividends again.

Jamieson take 3-48

Kyle Jamieson, who had cut short Salt’s aerial march in his first over, also ended RCB skipper Rajat Patidar’s (26 off 16 balls) aggressive progress with a slower yorker when he was brought in for only one over to change ’s end.

Chahal had bowled the first two overs from the Adani end and had sent back Mayank Agrawal (24 off 18 balls) in the second ball that he had bowled. Agrawal went on his knees deep in the crease and tried to sweep, but hit it straight to Arashdeep Singh, who comfortably pouched the catch. Leggie Chala though didn’t get further success as he bowled two more overs after his end was changed.

Salt used the lofted shot twice to cross the ropes for a boundary and once over it in the first over by Arshdeep. The England wicketkeeper’s stay didn’t last long though as Jamieson used a slower ball cleverly and Salt ballooned an attempted hit over mid-on where Iyer ran back and caught.

Kohli’s (43 off 35 balls), who was going great guns, suddenly flirted with an innocuous 127 kmph bouncer on the fifth stump and skied it. Azmatullah Omarzai ran across two adjacent pitches and slid a yard or so to take the return catch with both hands before screaming with joy.

Shashank’s 30-ball 61 in vain

In the end, PBKS’s Shashank Singh (61 not out off 30 balls) tried to use the long handle to succeed, but couldn’t achieve the 29 runs needed off the last six

Brief scores
RCB 190-9 in 20 overs (V Kohli 43; A Singh 3-40, K Jamieson 3-48) beat PBKS 184-7 in 20 overs (S Singh 61*, J Inglis 39; K Pandya 2-17, B Kumar 2-38) by six runs