Will Kohli be able to lay his hands on his first-ever cash-rich league title?

Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Tuesday beat Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets in the final league stage match of IPL 2025. With this win, stalwart Virat Kohli moved closer to his dream of winning a maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title.

In 2016, under Kohli`s captaincy, RCB fell short by just eight runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their quest for the elusive trophy.

“I had two heartbreaks in my life in 2016. First was the World T20 and then the IPL final,” Kohli said, during a conversation with JioStar.

The Rajat Patidar-led RCB will clash with Punjab Kings in Qualifier 1 of IPL 2025 on May 29. If Bengaluru manage to win this match, they will directly seal a berth in the final.

Even if they lose the match against Punjab, they will still have a chance to reach the final, as they will play a semi-final against the winner of the Eliminator between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians.

The 36-year-old Kohli recently drew the curtains on his career in the longest format of the game. He had earlier retired from the shortest format following Team India`s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph.

In IPL history, Kohli has scored the most runs and is the only player to have represented a single franchise in all 18 editions of the cash-rich league.

He has been on the losing side in the final three times, in 2009, 2011, and 2016, but fans believe it is a sign that he wears number 18 on his shirt, and that it will be 18th time lucky this year. 

The former captain has been in vintage form in pursuit of his goal, with his 54 in the IPL 2025 match against LSG being his eighth half-century of the season, in which he has made 602 runs at an average of 60.20.

Additionally, premier pacer Josh Hazlewood is likely to make his appearance in the IPL 2025 match against Punjab Kings on Thursday. He had been undergoing rehabilitation in Australia and was preparing for his national side`s upcoming World Test Championship final against South Africa.

(With AFP Inputs)

This article first appeared on Mid Day