RCB's Fourth Crack At IPL Glory — Lessons From Their Past Three Attempts

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru are hungry for IPL glory for a long time now. The Indian Premier League final on Tuesday will be the franchisee's fourth attempt at realising this dream.

RCB, led by Rajat Patidar, thrashed Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1 to become the first finalist of this season. Powered to a breathtaking show by the bowlers, Bengaluru restricted their opponents to 101 runs. Josh Hazlewood and Suyash Sharma picked up three wickets each, while Yash Dayal got two.

During the chase, Phil Salt gave RCB a blistering start, chipping in with an unbeaten 56-run knock featuring six boundaries and three sixes. Rajat Patidar also contributed with a 15-run cameo as RCB completed the task in just 10 overs to seal their berth in the IPL 2025 final.

Bengaluru previously featured in the IPL final in 2009, 2011 and 2016. Despite their commanding show in the league stage, RCB failed to overcome the last hurdle in all three seasons. They will be desperate to break the curse this time and end their 18-year-long wait for the first IPL trophy.

Let’s take a look at how RCB fared in their previous three finals and, more importantly, what are the lessons they can learn from them?

Lesson number one for a big match — a batting collapse is the end of the story. Case in point, RCB's first final versus the now-defunct Deccan Chargers.

Deccan Chargers batted first in the 2009 final and managed to set a target of 144, powered by a 50 by Herschelle Gibbs. Anil Kumble, who was the captain of Bengaluru, took four wickets. In response, RCB suffered a batting collapse and ended up falling six runs short of the target. 

Lesson number two — don't let the match the run away in the first innings.

Fresh off the ODI World Cup triumph, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli faced each other in the IPL 2011 final. With the opening pair of Murali Vijay and Michael Hussey stitching a 159-run partnership, CSK posted a mammoth 205, losing five wickets in 20 overs. Mind you, in 2011, 205 was a much bigger score than what it seems in the present day.

Chennai replicated their dominance in the second innings, forcing RCB to wrap up at 147. Saurabh Tiwary was the top scorer for Bengaluru with 42 runs, while Kohli scored 35. 

Lesson number three — Don't rely on one person's brilliance.

The 2016 IPL season is a memorable one for Virat Kohli, who registered 973 runs to secure the Orange Cap. He scored a brilliant half-century in the final as well. However, but RCB could not overcome Sunrisers Hyderabad.

David Warner’s SRH batted first and set a target of 209. Kohli, along with Gayle, pushed RCB beyond 110 in the first 10 overs. The other batters were unable to keep the momentum going as Bengaluru lost the final by eight runs.