Virat Kohli was named the player of the match after Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2026 clash at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday. Kohli scored 81 runs on 44 balls RCB achieved the target of 206 runs in 18.5 overs.. However, he described Devdutt Padikkal as the real difference-maker and the real hero of the victory.

Padikkal scored a half-century in 20 balls and scored 55 runs in 27 balls, before he was dismissed by Rashid Khan. Kohli said that their 115-run partnership for the second wicket set the tone for the chase. He also remembered Padikkal’s inning of 61 runs in 26 balls earlier. IPL 2026, when they made a partnership of 101 runs RCB wins over Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets.

“We had to assess the conditions early on. We were just one partnership away. We wanted to try and analyse. Padikkal has done that twice this season. It’s quite rare to be honest. His innings was the clear difference. I was trying to stay in the game. That partnership was a game changer,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

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Virat Kohli praised RCB bowlers

Kohli also praised the RCB bowlers for not letting the GT batsmen take the game away. After 16 overs, the Titans were at 170 and looked set to sail towards 230 or more. However, RCB conceded only 17 runs in the next three overs – less than a run-a-ball – before Krunal Pandya scored 18 runs in the final over.

“Even in our bowling innings, we did well in pulling things back. We were looking at 230-235 at one point,” Kohli said.

Kohli also got luck to some extent. In the very first over of RCB’s chase, they got relief on the very first ball. Mohammed Siraj created a chance, but Washington Sundar dropped a simple catch at midwicket, after which Kohli made GT pay.

Kohli also hit 300 sixes in the IPL and is now just 11 runs short of becoming the first batsman to reach 9,000 runs in the history of the tournament. Meanwhile, with their win over GT, RCB moved up to second on the table with 10 points and a net run rate of +1.101, having won five of their seven matches.

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