Royal Challengers Bengaluru have won the Indian Premier League for the first time in their history after holding on for a six-run victory over Punjab Kings in Monday’s final.

Virat Kohli top-scored with 43 as RCB posted 190-9 after being put into bat by PBKS, who saw Arshdeep Singh (3-40) take three wickets in the final over after Kyle Jamieson (3-48) impressed.

A 43-run opening stand ended when Phil Salt produced a brilliant catch on the boundary rope off Josh Hazlewood, to remove Priyansh Arya (24), while Krunal Pandya (2-17) took key wickets of Josh Inglis (39) and Prabhsimran Singh (26) to halt their chase.

PBKS’ hopes took a further setback when Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed two wickets in an over, with Shashank Singh’s stunning 61 from 30 deliveries helping them to 184-7 but short of their victory target of 191.

RCB’s victory marks a long-awaited maiden IPL title for Kohli, who has been an ever-present part of their IPL squad since 2008 and has been part of all three previous runner-up finishes for the franchise.

How RCB claimed historic IPL victory

Jamieson made the early breakthrough for PBKS in the second over when captain Shreyas Iyer took a smart catch at long on to remove Salt (16), who was among the RCB players unable to build on promising starts to their innings.

Mayank Agarwal (24) was removed by Yuzvendra Chahal just two balls after the power play and captain Rajat Patidar (25) was trapped LBW by Jamieson, while Kohli struggled with his timing and found just three boundaries in his 35-ball innings.

Kohli was eventually dismissed by a smart caught and bowled from Azmatullah Omarzai, leaving RCB 132-4 after 15 overs, with playing partner Liam Livingstone firing two sixes in his quickfire 25 before also falling LBW to Jamieson two overs later.

Livingstone was part of a 36-run stand from 12 deliveries with Jitesh Sharma (24 from 10) to raise the possibility of RCB passing 200, only for Arshdeep to take three wickets in the final over and set PKBS a victory target of 191.

Punjab Kings made a strong start to their chase but saw Arya’s dismissal in the fifth over halt their momentum, with Prabhsimran’s innings ended via top edge off Pandya and followed by Shreyas edging Romario Shepherd behind in the next over.

Inglis fired four sixes in his 23-ball 39 to try and keep up with the growing run-rate but picked out Livingstone at the boundary to leave them 98-4, before a mid-innings charge was ended when Bhuvneshwar removed Nehal Wadhera (15) and Marcus Stoinis (six) in the same over.

PKBS needed 29 from Hazlewood’s last over despite some late power hitting from Shashank, who reached his 29-ball half-century when he top-edged the penultimate ball of the innings over the keeper.

Shashank closed an unbeaten innings with a final-ball maximum, his sixth of the innings, although the RCB players were already celebrating at the Narendra Modi Stadium as Kohli sunk to his knees in emotion.

More to follow…

What’s next?

Several players involved in the IPL final will be part of India’s tour to England this summer, with a five-match Test series starting at Headingley on June 20 and live on Sky Sports.

India’s women are also touring England later this month, with a five-match T20I series beginning on June 28 ahead of a three-match ODI series starting on July 16. Stream cricket with NOW.