RCB on 31 May at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad Gujarat Titans Won their second consecutive IPL title with a spectacular five-wicket win against. Chasing the target of 156, the Bangalore team once again turned to their most trusted batsman Kohli, who scored an unbeaten 75 off just 42 balls to lead his team to an impressive win.

AB de Villiers reflects on RCB’s unique title defense

Speaking after the final, de Villiers admitted that RCB looked much more confident this season than last year’s maiden title-winning campaign. According to the former South African captain, the experience of lifting the trophy first helps the team approach the final with more confidence and clarity.

He said the emotional weight of last season’s win was immense as the franchise had waited for years for its first IPL title.

However, this year’s team looked more stable and better prepared for the challenges of a high-pressure final.

De Villiers said he felt a quiet confidence in the pre-match camp and that the players now understood what was required to succeed on the biggest stage. He described winning back-to-back championships as a unique accomplishment and expressed pride in the franchise’s progress.

“It was a lot easier than last year, that’s for sure. Last year was emotional, and we didn’t know what was going to happen.

This year, when I saw Virat before the game started, the confidence was a little bit higher. We’ve been here before, now we know how it works and what the formula is. And what a unique achievement it is to become back-to-back IPL champions. I couldn’t be more proud,” de Villiers said on JioHotStar.

De Villiers praised Virat Kohli’s match-winning innings

The situation looked balanced at the start of the IPL final as Gujarat Titans scored 155/8 in their 20 overs. washington beautiful Batsman fought back by scoring an unbeaten half-century, but RCB’s disciplined bowling prevented the Titans from scoring a more impressive score.

When Bangalore started their chase, Kohli once again took the responsibility of carrying the innings forward. Blending composure and aggression, the experienced opener ensured that there were no major hurdles and kept the required run rate steady.

De Villiers highlighted Kohli’s ability to remain calm in stressful situations, citing it as one of the greatest strengths of his batting. He said finals often demand patience and awareness of the game, rather than playing reckless shots, qualities Kohli has mastered in his career.

According to de Villiers, if Kohli had been removed from that chasing batting line-up, the match would have looked completely different. He credited the Indian superstar for controlling the innings while facing quality bowlers, including Rashid Khan, and ensuring that RCB never lost grip on the match.

“In a final, if you take him out of that chasing batting line-up, everything looks a little different. When Rashid Khan was firing from one end, and some of the other GT bowlers were also doing well, he just brings that calmness. He knows how to chase throughout the innings and finish it off,” De Villiers added.

GT’s bowling plans against Kohli failed

The former RCB great also felt that Gujarat Titans made a strategic mistake by bowling early in Kohli’s favorite scoring areas. Many of the balls were on the pads, allowing the right-handed batsman to set quickly and find boundaries with ease. De Villiers explained that when a batsman of Kohli’s caliber makes comfortable starts, it becomes an extremely difficult task to stop him. He felt that as Kohli found his rhythm and began imposing his conditions on the bowlers, the chase became increasingly simple.

Appropriately, Kohli remained unbeaten till the end and scored the winning runs to cap off another memorable IPL campaign. For de Villiers, it was the ideal end to a final that again demonstrated why Kohli remains the greatest match-winner in the history of the tournament.

“And it’s very fitting that he was there at the end, scoring the winning runs. GT made a bit of a mistake in playing him to his strengths. He had a lot of balls on the pads in his first 20-30 runs. If you give one of the greatest players of all time a start like that, he will always punish you. As soon as he started to drift, it just became a one-sided game. To be there at the end and call those final moments was absolutely amazing,” De Villiers concluded.