📅 2026-06-01 • ✍️ Reddy Anna
Virat Kohli shed tears at long-on last year. Tears that come when you can't have it anymore: ugly, heaving, tears with your hands over your face — the sort that come when you've tracked something across the hills and down the valley for eighteen years but can't catch it. But he has been associated with one franchise since each and every error, every fourth place finish, every tournament where the rest of the cricket community seemed to be waiting for RCB to collapse. The first trophy was finally genuine, it gushed out of him.
On May 31, 2026, there were no such tears. Slowly, both arms were lifted and looked at the sky; a vague yet positive smile as if the man had made a step from relief to permanence. The feeling remained strong. It was just about changing outfits. Be with Reddy Anna for the next season of IPL.
Now, when your team wins its first title after 18 years your weight is huge, but it's soon replaced with another weight, the weight of expectations. In the case of RCB this time, the rumours that swirled around the team were different. Not 'Will they ever?' but ‘Can they back it up?' What went from the abstract feeling of failure, to the actual requirement of repetition. It's the one that is tougher, which nobody that has ever played at any level doesn't know.
Kohli himself spoke about this during the pre-season 'Last year we made history'. Let's protect it this year! These are two utterly different profession. The two did not bother him. In group sessions he was less hurried, composed, his teammates said, watching him in that heat.
It's not so as someone handed it to RCB. GT arrived as a worthy opponent – a third time in five years they faced their third final as a team and included third-highest scorer Jos Buttler, and tail-spinner Kagiso Rabada alongside Rashid Khan. RCB got bowled out on patidar's substitution of Krunal Pandya in the opening over as both the men were removed from the field, the contest was once again wide open for Rashid. This was when the cream of the crop was truly separated from the aspiring ones.
Kohli didn't call a timeout. He didn't point towards the loft. He removed gloves, wiped hands and put them back on, again faced next ball. He ran hard for every run. Talked to Tim David – quietly and directly – setting up each over's plan. Of his 19 IPL seasons, his 19th is the one that count. The million-plus were watching, building up a lot of pressure on his shoulders and still he scored 75 not out to finish the most resultant tournament in the history of franchise cricket.
This was no surprise, this was no thanks. The cameras captured Kohli's face in that moment. The quiet mutual appreciation of two who are intimate in the knowledge of the contribution of the other.
The team management said in its post-match statement that the 'this is for the RCB fans, and also for Virat'. But it was not someone Kohli needed to talk on his behalf and that for anyone in the present building. But, it was all true.
All great athletes will eventually be asked at some point, "when is enough enough? Over the past few years, the Kohli dream was always synonymous with this one fate – winning an IPL trophy with RCB. He had all the medals, world cups and Test series, records he would take generations to emulate. However, his came from his first home, the IPL, which had denied him that very same trophy.
Now he has two. But some other part of the equation of an elite sportster's life does it do? Well, not the man — greatness of this nature is self-sustaining — but the story. It's full, but wasn't that night when he cried at long-on. In 2025, the tears spoke out: 'finally. The 2026 smile replied, 'of course. As they win in both consecutive two years. For more updates related to other match visit Reddy Anna Book website.