India's charismatic batter Virat Kohli had a special word of advice for teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after the IPL 2026 final, urging the youngster to stay focused on his game and continue striving for greater heights following a record-breaking season.
After RCB won their second consecutive final at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday. A video of the interaction between the Royal Challengers Bengaluru stalwart and the 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals prodigy went viral. Their conversation has finally been revealed by RCB in a video posted on their social media handles.
In the meetup, Kohli praised Sooryavanshi’s work ethic and self-belief while reminding him to ignore outside noise and focus on his batting. The former RCB captain also advised the youngster to aim higher. “You have to keep going higher from here. Whatever you’ve achieved is the result of your hard work and belief.
Don’t pay attention to who is saying what. Just focus on your batting and yourself. Ek Bihari sab par bhari,” Kohli told Sooryavanshi. The words from one of Indian cricket’s modern greats came after a season in which Sooryavanshi established himself as the biggest breakout star of the tournament despite Rajasthan Royals missing out on the title.
It is worth mentioning that earlier in the IPL 2026 season, Kohli had given Sooryavanshi an autograph and signed his cap after the left-handed batter smashed the RCB bowlers all around the park in the contest at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati.
While Royal Challengers Bengaluru retained the IPL crown with a five-wicket victory over the Gujarat Titans, Sooryavanshi emerged as the undisputed individual performer of the season, collecting five awards at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The teenager finished as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 776 runs to secure the Orange Cap and was named the Most Valuable Player as well as the Emerging Player of the Season. He also claimed the Super Striker award after maintaining a remarkable strike rate of 237.31 and won the Super Sixes award by smashing a record 72 sixes during the campaign.