Royal Challengers Bengaluru desperate to win IPL 2025 trophy for King Kohli | SWOT & more

Virat Kohli is an Under-19 World Cup winner (2008), a World Cup winner (2011), a Twenty20 World Cup winner (2024), and a Champions Trophy winner (2013 and 2025). He has also been part of the Asia Cup 50-over format-winning teams (2010 and 2023) and the Asia Cup T20-winning team (2016).

His collection of silverware is almost complete, given the team achievements with the Indian national side. However, he would have been thrilled if his trophy collection included at least one IPL winner's cup.

Kohli must be extremely disappointed not to have seen the talented Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) win the prestigious IPL in seventeen seasons. Known as the King of white-ball cricket, the dashing Kohli has shown complete loyalty to the team, playing 252 matches/244 innings, scoring 8004 runs with 8 centuries and 55 fifties. He led the team 143 times from 2011 to 2023, with one season gap in 2022.

All Kohli and the RCB have to show for their efforts are three final appearances—finishing second to Deccan Chargers (2009), Chennai Super Kings (2011), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (2016). The team has reached the playoffs nine times.

Winning the IPL is unfinished business for Kohli, who might have been hoping to emulate Smriti Mandhana’s RCB, which won the Women’s Premier League (WPL) in 2024 but failed to make the playoffs this season.

Kohli remains RCB’s biggest draw. He fills up the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. This is the 18th edition of the IPL, and with Kohli as RCB's most beloved cricketer, the franchise will hope for a turn of luck starting from the opening match against the three-time winner and defending champion, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens on March 22. Kohli has opened the RCB innings 113 times, scoring 4352 runs at an average of 45.81. He should open the innings alongside Phil Salt, who has replaced Faf du Plessis in the squad. Salt had opened the innings for KKR in season 17.

RCB has named rookie Rajat Patidar as captain. Patidar, who struggled in the home Test series against England last year, has played only 27 matches for the Bengaluru side, scoring 799 runs. Last season, he played fifteen matches and scored 395 runs, maintaining a high average of 37.75 in the one-drop position, from where he scored 453 runs, including 322 at No.4.

The franchise went all out at the player auction, successfully bidding for England’s Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell, along with Salt and Australia’s Tim David, who can bombard rival bowling attacks with towering sixes. These power hitters should relish the batting paradise that is the Chinnaswamy.

The team retained Kohli, Patidar, and left-arm seamer Yash Dayal. At the mega auction, they chose wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, left-arm spinner all-rounder Krunal Pandya, and batter Devdutt Padikkal. The team also has several impact players in left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh, seamer Rasik Salam Dar, and big hitter David.

The squad’s bowling department is bolstered by experienced seamers and fast bowlers: Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Dayal, Lungi Ngidi, Nuwan Thushara, and Abhinandan Singh. The team also has leg-spinners Suyash Sharma and Mohit Rathee.

Under coach Andrew Flower, RCB has altered its batting structure. Last season, the team’s key batters included du Plessis, Dinesh Karthik, Cameron Green, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, and Glenn Maxwell. Despite Mohammed Siraj’s impressive performance (15 wickets at 33.07), RCB opted not to retain him. They used 10 bowlers last year, retaining Dayal, who took 15 wickets.

The team’s think tank has devised a bowling combination designed to win matches across the country, especially at home. However, RCB’s home record is dismal, having won only 39 of the 80 games played, with a low win rate of 48.75% and 37 losses. This is an area that RCB needs to improve to enhance their chances of making the playoffs. Fortunately, they have the resources to do so.

After the opening match against KKR, RCB will face the five-time winner Chennai Super Kings at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. Then, after their first home match against Gujarat Titans, they will travel to Mumbai to play the five-time winners, Mumbai Indians. In just 17 days, RCB will have faced three IPL winners. If they manage to come through unscathed, their confidence will be high.