The wait of 17 years is over, RCB becomes two-time champion!

Before IPL 2025, winning the IPL trophy was a dream for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), which could not be realized even once in 17 years. The team had come close to the title many times, but the saying ‘Hath aayi muh na lagi’ used to happen to the team every time.

However, by defeating Gujarat Titans in the final, RCB has now won the IPL title for two consecutive seasons. What changed in the last two seasons that RCB, known as chokers, became included in the list of those three teams which have defended the title.

Luck took a turn with the change of captain: After releasing Faf du Plessis, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) handed over the responsibility of captaincy for IPL 2025 to a young batsman Rajat Patidar. This decision of the team seemed very strange in the beginning. The challenge before Rajat was huge, because despite having players like AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, RCB was tagged as ‘chokers’. Rajat’s good luck also worked for RCB.

Calm on the field, minding his own business and completely focused, Rajat shouldered the burden of making RCB the champion for the first time. Based on the advice he received from Kohli and other star players and his own decisions, Rajat did what players like De Villiers, Gayle, Plessis and Kohli could not do in IPL 2025. The decision to make Rajat the captain proved to be a gamechanger for RCB.

Work done on the weaknesses in the auction: Before the IPL 2025 auction, RCB was always seen running after star players. However, after Rajat took over the captaincy and continued failure, the team started focusing on its weak sides.

The biggest weakness of the team was the pairing of Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in fast bowling. This weakness was also removed by including Tim David in the team as a finisher. Along with this, some good all-rounders including Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd were also added to the team.

Dependence on one player ended: Before IPL 2025, the biggest problem for RCB was that the team was more dependent on one or two players for victory. Sometimes Virat Kohli, sometimes AB de Villiers or sometimes someone else.

However, in IPL 2025, every player of the team tried hard to make RCB win. If Kohli had failed, Rajat would have taken charge and if Rajat had flopped, Krunal would have started sailing the team. If the batsmen had failed, the bowlers would have turned the match with their sharp bowling. This habit of RCB became a boon for the team, due to which RCB was successful in winning not one, but two IPL titles.

Under the leadership of Rajat Patidar, RCB now looks more balanced than before. The brand value of RCB has always been very high. Despite missing the title till IPL 2024, both the brand value of the team and the trust of the fans did not waver at all. This is the reason why the team for which winning the title was once a dream, is now making it a habit to win the IPL trophy.