Royal Challenge Completed
(With apologies to legendary football commentator Peter Drury, but read in his voice)
It is done.
After 18 years of endless sprints, narrow misses and heartbreak… Virat Kohli is the IPL Champion.
He arrived a round-faced, wide-eyed youth, fresh off the Under-19 crown,
arriving with swagger and intent: the next big thing in Indian cricket.
And over the years, the boy became myth,
the prototype of the modern Indian cricketer.
Arrogant, confident, bearded,
and with a love for sororal greetings.
He shed his baby fat, he carved sinew from sacrifice.
He took every challenge head-on,
becoming a modern cricketing great—
leading the Indian team to new frontiers as he unleashed the dogs of war.
He made fitness a faith, and his beard a banner—
emulated on every gully, every Instagram post,
every generation that saw in him not just a cricketer,
but a creed.
He fought with fire.
He bared his soul at deep midwicket, at Lord’s, at the Wanderers, at the MCG.
He took on SENA giants not with politeness, but with pupils dilated in combat,
his rage not a flaw but a fuel—dragging India and RCB
through trenches and tempests.
But for all the fables, all the hundreds,
this trophy—this wretched, elusive, shiny little grail—
mocked him every April and May.
And still, he stayed.
He stayed with RCB.
No glamour transfers. No shortcuts.
He chose heartbreak on home soil over triumph elsewhere.
He gave them his youth, his prime,
his decline—and his resurrection.
And so tonight, when the sky cracked open and the last ball disappeared,
he didn’t leap.
He sank.
To his knees, hands to face, fingers trembling.
Not in shock—but in stillness.
The silence of a man who gave everything…
and finally received.
And how fitting—Bengaluru, his karmabhoomi.
The city of lakes, of monsoon evenings and overflowing dreams.
The Silicon Valley of India, where code meets coffee, and cricket conquers all.
Where strangers speak ten tongues but cheer in one voice.
Where IT parks and idli stalls erupt in chorus when RCB walks out.
A city that gave him a home,
and tonight, he gave it a reason to roar.
Eighteen years.
One franchise.
One man.
And now the elusive title.
At long last…
it is challenge completed.