Virat Kohli's Wait For IPL Title Termed "Shorter" By Virender Sehwag. Reason Is This India Great

Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally got their hands on the coveted Indian Premier League Trophy after a long wait of 18 seasons. Kohli has been an RCB player since the inaugural edition of the event in 2008, but an IPL trophy kept eluding the player-franchise duo until last year. During this phase, RCB played three finals in 2009, 2011, and 2016, but ended up losing all of them. The long wait finally ended when RCB beat Punjab Kings in the final of IPL 2025 in Ahmedabad.

Former India opener Virender Sehwag compared Kohli's quest for a maiden IPL title with that of Sachin Tendulkar for an ODI World Cup. Sachin made his Indian debut in 1989 and had to wait for more than 21 years to clinch the world title for the nation. India won the ODI World Cup for the first time in 1983, and the glory was repeated in 2011.

"His (Kohli's) wait to win the trophy is only 18 years. Sachin Tendulkar waited from 1989 to 2011. So, Kohli's wait was shorter, and even Sachin never lost hope. He had made up his mind, he would only bow out with a World Cup trophy in his hand," Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

The ex-India player further said that Kohli could now even retire from IPL if he wishes to do so.

"It's the same for Virat Kohli. Now, he can be relieved. He can happily stop playing IPL whenever he wants to make that decision. A player plays to win the trophy. Money comes and goes, but winning trophies isn't easy. And even as Kohli's wait ended, he has still made a very strong contribution in their campaign," said Sehwag.

Talking about the IPL 2025 final, RCB defeated PBKS by 6 runs to clinch their first-ever title. Opting to bowl first, PBKS restricted RCB to 190 for 9, with Arshdeep Singh (3 for 40) and Kyle Jamieson (3 for 48) being the major contributors. Virat Kohli was top scorer for RCB with 43 off 35. RCB never got going in the innings and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

In reply, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2 for 38) and Krunal Pandya (2 for 17) bowled magical spells to stop PBKS at 184 for 7 in 20 overs. Shashank Singh scored 61 not off 30 balls for PBKS but the knock came a little too late for the side.

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket India Cricket Team Royal Challengers Bengaluru IPL 2025 Virat Kohli Sachin Tendulkar