India's charismatic batter Virat Kohli believes that finally winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) title with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) before the end of his career was one of the most emotional and fulfilling moments of his cricketing journey.
Reflecting on the franchise's historic triumph in the RCB podcast, Kohli admitted the overwhelming emotions were impossible to describe after the franchise ended its 18-year-long wait to hold the iconic trophy. "All those emotions, all those feelings came out in a form of just being on my knees and just holding my hands and saying, thank you.
That I could experience this before I stopped playing," Kohli said. Former RCB captain was visibly emotional after the team won their maiden title by beating Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on June 3. Kohli, who is representing the franchise since 2008 and also captained the side, said that the journey of near misses and heartbreaks has made the victory more meaningful.
"I still say it's very difficult to explain to people in words how I felt in the last four balls of the last over. When you see from the outside what has happened to the franchise, how RCB has been looked at for so many years... as a big team, big franchise that's never won - the almost champions, the ones that have come close but never really won the trophy.
"And for that pressure to build over so many years, like season after season. There's one thing to observe it, and there's one thing to live it. And I have lived through all of those seasons," he added. Kohli, however, acknowledged that he would not have lived with regret if RCB failed to clinch the trophy, but there would always be a thought of missing the experience of a lifetime.
"Although I wouldn't have carried on regretting it. But there would have been a part of me that would have wondered, you know, what it would have felt like to experience that moment," he said. The 37-year-old also believes that the prolonged wait to lift the trophy with the franchise he has given everything amplified the joy of being the champions.
"I can for sure, with absolute honesty and clarity, say that it wouldn't have been 5% of the feeling I had, had we won it in the earlier years. And the accumulation of all that stress and all that pressure. And for it to happen after 18 years, there couldn't have been a better experience for me in my cricketing journey," he added.
Meanwhile, Kohli has scored 484 runs in 12 matches in IPL 2026, and with his assault, RCB are currently placed at the top of the points table as they look to defend their title.