# Royal Challengers Bengaluru end 18-year wait with maiden IPL title

Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally won their first Indian Premier League title on June 3, 2025, beating Punjab Kings by six runs in a tense final that ended an 18-year wait. The result gave the franchise its long-sought maiden trophy and left Virat Kohli in tears as the emotion of the night spilled well beyond the scorecard.

RCB reached 190 for 9 in their 20 overs, a total built around Kohli's 43 and a set of contributions that never quite turned into a dominant finish. Kyle Jamieson and Arshdeep Singh each took three wickets, keeping the innings in check and ensuring Punjab had a chaseable target rather than an unreachable one. On a surface where 200 had often looked possible, the final total left both teams aware that the match was still open.

Punjab Kings began aggressively. Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh put on 43 in five overs, giving the chase a fast start and briefly shifting the pressure back onto RCB. Hazlewood made the first important breakthrough, Phil Salt produced a standout catch, and the final gradually became a fight over momentum rather than a straightforward run chase. By the halfway point, Punjab still had room to push, but the match had already started to tighten.

The decisive phase came late. Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed Nehal Wadhera and Marcus Stoinis in the 17th over, turning the game sharply in Bengaluru's favor. Punjab still had Shashank Singh trying to drag them back into the contest, and he fought through the final over with 29 needed. He made a spirited effort, but the target stayed just out of reach as Punjab finished on 184 for 7.

Krunal Pandya was especially important in the defence, finishing with 2 for 17 in four overs and taking the key wicket of Josh Inglis for 39. Romario Shepherd added another crucial blow by removing Shreyas Iyer for just one. Those interventions mattered because a title final rarely turns on one score alone. It is built out of a sequence of small denials, and RCB managed enough of them to hold the line when the chase threatened to surge.

The result mattered as much for what it ended as for what it delivered. RCB had spent 18 seasons carrying the burden of expectation, large fan support and repeated disappointment. Kohli's tears told that story better than any summary could. This was not only a final won by six runs. It was a long-running wait finally broken in the narrowest of finishes, with Bengaluru's first IPL title arriving after years of feeling close without ever getting there.

The emotional aftermath mattered because the title arrived after repeated seasons in which RCB built hope without finishing the job. Kohli's reaction captured that history: a veteran star who has been with the franchise through the long wait finally had a trophy to hold. For supporters, that kind of win changes the tone of a club. It turns a long-running punch line about near misses into a memory of persistence rewarded, and it gives the franchise a benchmark that future teams will be measured against.