5 reasons why RCB could defend IPL title

Published - 06 Apr 2026, 23:44 IST | Updated - 06 Apr 2026, 23:59 IST

For 18 seasons, Royal Challengers Bengaluru built their IPL identity on batting and the hope that batting would be enough. Every title-contending version of this side carried the same flaw: a bowling unit that conceded what the order had built.

The 2025 edition broke that template. Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Krunal Pandya gave Rajat Patidar a defence capable of winning away from Bengaluru and then closing a 6-run final against PBKS at the Chinnaswamy.

The case for title defence in 2026 rests on squad continuity and what separated the two successful back-to-back defences in IPL history from the fifteen that failed.

Kohli scored 657 runs in 15 IPL 2025 matches at an average of 54.75. The number most fans notice first is the absent one: zero hundreds across the campaign. He scored 8 fifties and converted none of them. That conversion rate, examined in isolation, resembles a top-order batter who cannot find the accelerator past 50.

Those 8 fifties describe a batter managing the innings. Kohli's role in this lineup is to be the anchor that Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, and Tim David score around. He accelerates in the powerplay, controls the middle overs, and releases the innings once the platform is set. The 8 fifties reflect that function across 15 matches: productive without being dominant, present in every game without manufacturing one headline innings that overshadows the collective.

His 43 off 35 in the IPL 2025 final against PBKS was the top score in a team total of 190 for 9, a target PBKS reached within 6 runs before Krunal closed the match.

In IPL 2026 Match 1 against SRH on March 28, Kohli scored 69 not out off 38 balls as RCB chased 202 in 15.4 overs. That chase was the fastest successful pursuit of 200 or more in IPL history. Padikkal scored 61 off 26, and Kohli set the tempo that made the acceleration possible. No IPL opener who played 10 or more matches in 2025 averaged higher than 54.75.