Eighteen years of hurt, heartbreak, and howling at the moon. And then, boom. Two titles in 12 months like they had been doing this all their lives.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru have officially gatecrashed the most exclusive club in Indian cricket. Only Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians had done the back-to-back before them. The old money. The establishment. The untouchables. Well, move over, gentlemen. There is new royalty in town, and they are wearing red.
And they did not just win. They steamrolled. They pulverised. They made it look, frankly, embarrassing. Gujarat Titans arrived in the final hoping for a coronation of their own. What they got instead was a tutorial, a brutal, unforgiving masterclass in how a team operating like a Swiss watch, fuelled by rocket fuel, conducts its business.
If the 2025 and 2026 campaigns are anything to go by, Royal Challengers Bengaluru are not a flash in the pan. They are not a Cinderella story. They are the story. Full stop. Lock it in. They are here to stay, here to dominate, and they would very much like you to take note.
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18 points to bulldoze their way to the top of the group stage table. A savage 92-run hammering of Gujarat Titans in Qualifier 1 to book a direct ticket from the mountains of Dharamsala to the heat of Ahmedabad. And then? A walk in the park in the final. An absolute, utterly serene, almost offensively relaxed stroll in front of nearly a lakh fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Rajat Patidar and his band of marauders had said they wanted to be called attacking champions. Earned. Stamped. Certified. It felt as though the 12-month intermission, which had seen retirements, reshuffles, and more MS Dhoni farewell rumours than anyone can count, had changed precisely nothing for RCB. They picked up right where they left off, as though someone had simply pressed the resume button.
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