Virat Kohli was named Player of the Match after Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Gujarat Titans in their IPL 2026 clash on Friday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Kohli scored 81 off 44 balls as RCB chased down 206 in 18.5 overs. However, he credited Devdutt Padikkal as the real difference-maker and the true hero of the win.
Padikkal brought up a 20-ball fifty and went on to score 55 off 27 before Rashid Khan dismissed him. Kohli added that their 115-run stand for the second wicket set the tone for the chase. He also recalled Padikkal’s 61 off 26 balls earlier in IPL 2026, when they shared a 101-run partnership in RCB’s six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“We had to assess the conditions early on. We were only one partnership away. We wanted to try and analyse. Padikkal has done this twice this season. This is quite rare to be honest. His innings was the clear difference. I was trying to be in the game. That partnership was the game changer,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
VIRAT KOHLI LAUDS RCB BOWLERS
Kohli also heaped praise on the RCB bowlers for not allowing the GT batters to run away with the game. After 16 overs, the Titans were 170 and looked set to push towards 230 or more. However, RCB conceded only 17 runs in the next three overs—at less than a run-a-ball—before Krunal Pandya went for 18 in the final over.
“Even in our bowling innings, we did well to pull things back. We were looking at 230-235 at one stage,” Kohli added.
Kohli also had luck on his side to an extent. In the very first over of RCB’s chase, he was handed a reprieve off the first ball he faced. Mohammed Siraj created the chance, but Washington Sundar dropped a simple catch at mid-wicket, after which Kohli made GT pay.
Kohli also brought up 300 sixes in the IPL and is now just 11 runs short of becoming the first batter in the tournament’s history to reach 9,000 runs. Meanwhile, with their win over GT, RCB climbed to second in the table with 10 points and a net run rate of +1.101, having won five of their seven matches.
