Former India left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan said the talismanic Virat Kohli will be ‘hungrier than ever’ to win back-to-back Indian Premier League (IPL) titles after Royal Challengers Bangalore won their first-ever trophy in 2025. Kohli played a pivotal role in RCB’s IPL 2025 victory by hitting 43 in the final against Punjab Kings and ended the season as the side’s leading run-getter with 657 runs in 15 matches.
“The hunger in Virat Kohli will be there. In fact, he will be hungrier than ever, especially after lifting the IPL trophy last season. He will want to win back-to-back IPL trophies. That hunger in him to win and create an impact is always going to be there,” said Pathan on JioStar.
Pathan also said Kohli’s passion was evident in his recent international outings. “We have seen that when he played for India, especially in the one-day series against South Africa and New Zealand. He looks like he wants to make an impact in every game. I think he will have the same kind of passion when he comes back this season.
He will want to lift the trophy once again,” he said. RCB will open IPL 2026 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 28 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, which was recently cleared by the Karnataka government to host IPL matches after no competitive cricket was held following the tragic loss of 11 lives in a stampede during the side’s IPL victory celebrations in June 2025.
The matches at the Chinnaswamy will happen only if its gets clearance from an expert committee constituted by the Karnataka state government on Friday. Pathan also backed left-handed top-order batter Devdutt Padikkal to play a key role in RCB’s campaign after he made 247 runs in ten games at a strike-rate of 150.60.
"Devdutt Padikkal is going to play a major role in RCB's success in IPL 2026. He has scored runs left, right and centre in domestic cricket across all formats. He looks like a very improved player. There was a time when he was struggling, wasn’t getting his timing right.
But that is in the past now. Devdutt Padikkal is a different, very confident player now.” Pathan also noted that RCB’s reliance on Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle in the past had given way to a more balanced side. “What I really like about RCB is that earlier they used to rely heavily on Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle to win matches.
That has changed now. Their whole playing XI is full of match-winners. That is a fantastic thing.” He also felt RCB have strong reserve options if the injury-prone Josh Hazlewood doesn’t turn up for the tournament. “But going into IPL 2026, RCB will have some injury concerns, especially with Josh Hazlewood's fitness.
The good thing is they have secured good backups. The duo of Nuwan Thushara and Jacob Duffy can cover well for Hazlewood if he faces fitness issues. That makes RCB even stronger."