IPL 2025: Ee Sala Cup Namdu — This Year the Cup is Ours
After 18 Seasons, Four Finals, and a Million Broken Hearts, Royal Challengers Bengaluru Are Finally Champions
For eighteen years, every IPL season began the same way in Bengaluru. A song. A hope. A belief so fierce it sometimes hurt. ‘Ee Sala Cup Namdu.’ In Kannada, it means: This Year the Cup is Ours. They sang it in 2008. They sang it through the losses of 2009, 2011, and 2016 — three finals, three heartbreaks so close and so painful they left marks that didn’t fade. They sang it every year in between. Every single year.
On June 3, 2025, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, after a season that had been disrupted by a geopolitical crisis, after a playoff run of extraordinary nerve, after a final that went to the last ball and left 100,000 people barely breathing — the answer came. For the first time in eighteen years of trying, the answer was yes.
Ee Sala Cup Namdu. This year the cup was theirs.
The Season Before the Final: When India-Pakistan Tensions Stopped the IPL
IPL 2025 had already been producing extraordinary cricket when, on May 9, the tournament was suspended. The India-Pakistan military tensions that had been escalating following the Pahalgam terror attack reached a point where airport closures across North India made the movement of teams, officials, and production crews between venues impossible. The BCCI suspended all matches immediately — the second time in IPL history the tournament had been halted mid-season (the first being the COVID bubble breach in 2021).
Indian Railways, responding to a BCCI request, organised special Vande Bharat Express trains to transport players and staff safely between locations. Eight days after the suspension, a revised schedule was announced. Seventeen days after cricket had stopped, it resumed — across six venues, with a different emotional weight to every match. Players who had been inside the IPL bubble knew how close the entire season had come to being abandoned. Every remaining game felt like something that had been preserved.
When cricket came back, RCB came with it. The team that had been building form before the suspension returned with a clarity and determination that carried all the way to the final.
| IPL 2025 was suspended on May 9 due to the India-Pakistan military crisis. It resumed 17 days later. The matches that followed carried the emotional weight of a season that had nearly been lost. |
Virat Kohli: The Captain’s Captain, 18 Years in the Making
Virat Kohli was 19 years old when he first played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008. Over the next seventeen years — through three final losses, through the 973-run season in 2016 that produced no trophy, through offers from other franchises that he never once considered accepting — Kohli had been RCB. Not just a player. An identity. The franchise captain even in the seasons when Rajat Patidar wore the official armband.
In 2025, Kohli scored 657 runs in 15 matches. The Orange Cap went to Sai Sudharsan of Gujarat Titans with 759 runs — a phenomenal performance from one of India’s brightest batting talents. But Kohli was RCB’s heart throughout: technically exquisite on surfaces that tested even him, the anchor of their batting across the crucial final stages of the season.
In the final against Punjab Kings, his 43 runs off a challenging surface were not the most spectacular number on the scorecard. They were the foundation. RCB’s 190/9 was built on that foundation. And 190, as it turned out, was exactly enough.
The Final: Six Runs That Ended Eighteen Years of Waiting
Punjab Kings, led by Shreyas Iyer, had finished as the top team in the league stage — nine wins, tournament favourites, a batting line-up with genuine depth. They had beaten Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 to reach the final. They deserved to be there. This was not a mismatch.
Punjab won the toss and chose to bowl – a smart decision on an Ahmedabad surface that showed early assistance to the seamers. Kohli’s 43 was the foundation. Romario Shepherd’s explosive late cameo pushed RCB to 190/9 – competitive on any surface, and perhaps just enough on this one.
Punjab’s chase began with urgency: Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh took the first five overs to 43. And then Krunal Pandya — the left-arm spinner who had won three IPL titles with Mumbai Indians before joining RCB, who knew what final pressure felt like — began bowling. Tight lines. Sharp variations. Reading batters’ intentions and changing deliveries mid-action. He dismissed Prabhsimran. Romario Shepherd removed Shreyas Iyer cheaply — the pivotal moment.
From that point, Punjab chased uphill. Josh Inglis played magnificently. Shashank Singh’s 61 off 30 balls — sixes off Josh Hazlewood that sent the crowd berserk — kept Punjab alive until the final over. But the maths had grown merciless: 29 off 6 became 9 off 1. Josh Hazlewood bowled it. Punjab finished on 184/7. RCB won by 6 runs.
The Moment That Transcended Cricket: Kohli’s Tears and Two Legends Lift the Trophy
When Hazlewood bowled the last ball and RCB had won, Virat Kohli fell to his knees on the Ahmedabad outfield. Face buried in hands. Eighteen years of loyalty. Three finals lost. Every ‘Ee Sala Cup Namdu’ that had ended in heartbreak. All of it — every season, every near-miss, every time the answer was ‘not this year’ — came out in one long, unguarded, completely human moment.
His teammates ran to him. The stadium, 100,000 people strong, erupted in a way that made sound feel physical. And then came the gesture that turned a cricket celebration into something sacred.
Kohli walked into the crowd and found two men: Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. Two legends who had given some of the finest years of their franchise careers to RCB. Who had batted brilliantly, won fans forever, and never won the title. Who had been part of ‘Ee Sala Cup Namdu’ for years of their own. Kohli invited both of them onto the podium to lift the trophy together.
Gayle. De Villiers. Kohli. One South African, one Jamaican, one Indian. Three legends of RCB lifting the IPL trophy together, in front of 100,000 people, on a warm June night in Ahmedabad. The gesture said everything about what it means to be a franchise, what it means to belong to a cricketing family across generations.
| ‘They deserve it as much as I do.’ — Virat Kohli, on inviting Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers to share the IPL 2025 trophy. The most generous, most beautiful moment in IPL final history. |
Krunal Pandya: Player of the Final, Again
Krunal Pandya was named Player of the Match for his bowling performance in the IPL 2025 final. His disciplined left-arm spin — attacking the stumps, creating pressure at exactly the moment Punjab’s chase was threatening to accelerate — was the performance that won the match for RCB. He became the first player to win two Player of the Match awards in IPL finals: the first came in 2017 for Mumbai Indians, for batting brilliance in a different final, on a different stage.
Different franchise, different skill, same capacity for finals cricket. Krunal delivered when it mattered most. He always has.
The Individual Awards: Both Trophies to Gujarat Titans
In a remarkable statistical footnote, both the Orange Cap (Sai Sudharsan, 759 runs) and the Purple Cap (Prasidh Krishna, 25 wickets) were won by Gujarat Titans players — yet GT did not win the tournament. It is a reminder that individual awards and team trophies are measured by completely different equations. Cricket is a team sport. Always was.
Intelligence Corner: The Suspension Effect on Team Form
The 17-day IPL suspension created an analytical situation without direct precedent. Teams re-entering the tournament after the break were playing across six venues that had specific surface profiles — different from the 13 venues used pre-suspension. Teams with historically strong records at the six post-suspension venues showed measurably better form in the final phase. RCB, with their Bengaluru home-ground data and strong records at neutral high-pressure venues, were among the teams best positioned for the second phase. Context-aware analysis mattered more in 2025 than in any previous season.
Season 2025 — Quick Stats
| Stat | Detail |
| Champion | Royal Challengers Bengaluru (first-ever title) |
| Runner-Up | Punjab Kings |
| Final Result | RCB won by 6 runs (RCB 190/9, PBKS 184/7) |
| Final Venue | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad |
| Final Date | June 3, 2025 |
| Orange Cap | Sai Sudharsan (GT) — 759 runs |
| Purple Cap | Prasidh Krishna (GT) — 25 wickets |
| Player of Final | Krunal Pandya (RCB) — bowling match-winner |
| Mid-Season Suspension | May 9 to May 26 (India-Pakistan crisis) |
| Kohli’s Season | 657 runs in 15 matches |
| Most Emotional Moment | Kohli, Gayle, and ABD lift the trophy together |
Frequently Asked Questions — IPL 2025
Q: Who won IPL 2025?
A: Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their first-ever IPL title, beating Punjab Kings by 6 runs in the final at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on June 3, 2025. After 18 seasons and three previous final losses (2009, 2011, 2016), the wait was finally over.
Q: Why was IPL 2025 suspended mid-season?
A: The India-Pakistan military crisis following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor escalated in May 2025, leading to airport closures across North India. The BCCI suspended all matches on May 9 and resumed on May 26 after a revised schedule was announced.
Q: How many runs did Virat Kohli score in IPL 2025?
A: 657 runs in 15 matches — making him RCB’s highest run-scorer in the season and the anchor of their batting throughout the campaign, including a crucial 43 in the final.
Q: Why did Kohli invite Gayle and ABD to lift the trophy?
A: As a tribute to two RCB legends who gave their finest franchise years to the club without ever winning the IPL title. Kohli felt the 2025 win belonged to everyone who had ever believed in RCB — a gesture that became the most celebrated moment in IPL final history.
Q: Who won the Orange and Purple Cap in IPL 2025?
A: Orange Cap: Sai Sudharsan (Gujarat Titans) with 759 runs. Purple Cap: Prasidh Krishna (Gujarat Titans) with 25 wickets. Remarkably, both individual awards went to the same franchise — one that did not win the title.
Q: How long did RCB wait to win their first IPL title?
A: Eighteen seasons — from 2008 to 2025. They reached three finals before (2009, 2011, 2016) and lost all three. The 2025 victory ended the longest title wait of any franchise in IPL history.
Q: Who was Player of the Match in the IPL 2025 final?
A: Krunal Pandya of RCB won Player of the Match for his disciplined left-arm spin bowling that derailed Punjab’s chase at the crucial moment. He is the only player to win two Player of the Match awards in IPL finals.