Kamal Ghorui
Virat Kohli delivered an emotional dressing room speech after Royal Challengers Bengaluru pulled off a thrilling last-ball win against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026, a victory that pushed the defending champions to the top of the points table and left them one win away from sealing a playoff spot. RCB held their nerve in a dramatic chase of 167 at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, winning by two wickets off the final delivery after a rollercoaster contest. The chase had started disastrously for Bengaluru, with Kohli dismissed for a golden duck by Deepak Chahar in the opening over before Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar also departed cheaply. With RCB wobbling at 47/3 on a sluggish surface, Krunal Pandya produced a heroic 73 while battling severe cramps, anchoring the innings and dragging the chase deep. Eventually, Bhuvneshwar Kumar smashed a crucial six in the final over before Rasikh Salam Dar scrambled back for the winning runs on the last ball. Kohli’s animated leap after the winning run underlined how much the result meant for RCB. Later in the dressing room, the former captain praised the team’s resilience and fighting mentality. “Hey guys, I’m gonna keep it short. I’m gonna wrap it up tonight. Thanks, Andy (Flower), for giving me a chance to do something in the game today,” Kohli began. “But guys, look, if you want to win multi-team competitions, we need a team. We need a game like that. We need to scrap for a win. We need to fight hard.” Kohli singled out Bhuvneshwar for special praise after the veteran pacer starred with both bat and ball. Earlier in the evening, Bhuvneshwar had ripped through Mumbai’s top order, dismissing Ryan Rickelton, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav before finishing with superb figures of 4/23. “We know the feeling in the group. We’re just talking about the game, how we started off again. Bhuvi, brilliant in the Powerplay. Your execution, your skills, you are absolutely world-class. I think it was the sixth three-wicket haul of the season – 11 games, which is crazy,” Kohli said. Bhuvneshwar, who now leads the IPL 2026 wicket charts with 21 wickets, credited confidence and execution for his strong season. “The good thing is that whatever I’m doing or trying to do, it’s happening. And I think it’s all about confidence,” Bhuvneshwar said. “When you start the IPL, you go through a couple of good matches, then your confidence goes up. And I think, yes, I don’t want to change it, but whatever I’m trying to do, it’s happening. My execution is spot on, getting wickets and, of course, getting help from fielders to catch those crucial chances. So yes, I mean things work out.” Kohli also lauded the contributions of the rest of the bowling attack, including Romario Shepherd, Suyash Sharma and Rasikh Salam Dar. “Shef (Romario Shepherd), the way you bowled tonight was top-notch, and you showed us what you can do when you feel confident with the ball in hand and you can hit your areas. You have the skill, and we all back you to execute your skills every time. So well done on that,” Kohli said. “KP (Krunal), always can bank on you under pressure or any kind of situation. Again, brilliant with the ball. Suyash did his job as well. Rasikh was great too.” The RCB batter also acknowledged the team’s batting struggles before praising the middle-order fightback led by Krunal and Tim David. “With the bat, we didn’t get off to the best start. We know that. But like the last game, we’ve had two games where we haven’t had the best starts, but last game, Rajat stepped up along with KP contributing. TD (Tim David) made an impact in the last game.” “This game around again, he stuck in and got us an important partnership with KP. So that contribution was crucial for us to chase the score down. So well done,” Kohli added.
