Former India international Sanjay Manjrekar has said Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s two-time title-winning side is “a little more consistent” than Mumbai Indians’ prime teams.

RCB became just the third team in IPL history to win back-to-back titles after defeating Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. MI (2019 and 2020) and Chennai Super Kings (2010 and 2011) are the only other teams to achieve this feat.

“Everything is perfect in the way RCB is playing, and it’s now going to be a force for other teams to contend with. It’s like how Mumbai Indians was at one stage, but this looks like a more reliable team that has covered all the bases including the support staff,” Manjrekar told Sportstar’s Insight Edge podcast.

Manjrekar praised the RCB team management including head coach Andy Flower and batting coach Dinesh Karthik for creating an environment in which players could flourish, saying, “A lot of the work is done you know outside the cricketing field and I believe selections and finding the right team based on form is the crucial thing to do. These two guys (Flower and Karthik) have done a tremendous job and what’s the thing to like about them

“They’re just in the background ensuring the right crop of players is in the team and backing those players. That is something you don’t see as easily but you just see by how the team played.

“It’s the reason why we kept saying RCB is the best team in this tournament, because of the kind of players that were playing in the XI.”

The 60-year-old compared the side favourably to Mumbai Indians sides of the past, saying, “They had the firepower to go against the grain and change situations, but they had perhaps one or two weaknesses in the bowling.

Barring Bumrah and Malinga, there were a couple of weak links there. RCB doesn’t seem to have that, so they may not have those kinds of impactful wins but they might just be a little more consistent than MI.”

Published on Jun 01, 2026