RCB and Its Tantalizing Tryst With the IPL Trophy – Will This Be the Year That Brings an End to an 18-Year Drought?
The year is 2025, and Royal Challengers Bengaluru are one game away from scripting history. As of 1st June 2025, RCB have already booked their place in the final, and are awaiting one of Punjab Kings or Mumbai Indians to face them. The 132,000-seater Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will be packed like a can of sardines, mostly with red and black colors in the fans’ jerseys, ala RCB fans, while either MI or PBKS fans will fill the rest. While the tournament has been exciting for cricket fans, to say the least, it has well and truly been the year for RCB. As they still have one final hurdle to cross, let’s have a look at the 18-year journey that RCB has been on.
‘RCB are in the final of an IPL’ – is a statement that’s not been heard for the first time this year. After having a poor inaugural season in 2008, where RCB finished 7th (second last to Deccan Chargers), they bounced back pretty strongly the next year in 2009. RCB had reached the finals of the 2009 IPL after beating Chennai Super Kings (CSK), a highly successful side, in the semi-finals.
Back then, the current playoff system did not exist; instead, there was a Qualifier 1, followed by an Eliminator, then Qualifier 2, and finally the final. It used to be the traditional semi-final system where the 1st in the league stage played the 4th, and the 2nd played against the 3rd.
RCB, who had finished 3rd in the group stage, faced CSK in the semi-finals and chased down CSK’s low score of 146/5. In the finals, they faced Deccan Chargers, who had posted another low total for RCB to chase down. That year, the IPL was shifted to South Africa since its dates clashed with the general elections in India. Interestingly enough, the teams that obtained the last two spots in the 2008 IPL were playing the finals of the 2009 edition.
RCB were off to a good start, and the chase was on. All these years that RCB haven’t won an IPL trophy, looking back now, 2009 could’ve been the year when RCB first tasted glory. Chasing 143/6 by Deccan Chargers, RCB were 99/4 at one stage, well on their way to win.
At that point, the DC captain, Adam Gilchrist, brought Andrew Symonds in to bowl, which changed the course of that match. Symmonds picked up Ross Taylor and a young Virat Kohli in back-to-back deliveries, as RCB were reduced to 99/6. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. RCB never really recovered from that and lost the match by 6 runs.
This was RCB’s first tantalizing tryst with the IPL trophy, which they couldn’t replicate the next year. In 2010, RCB lost to MI in the semi-finals quite comfortably and missed out on the final spot. They ended up 3rd that year. However, in 2011, RCB had another great chance of winning the trophy.
The 2011 IPL was the first season when the current playoff system was introduced. RCB had lost the first Qualifier against CSK, as he latter booked its spot for the finals. However, RCB beat MI in the second Qualifier, taking sweet revenge from the previous year, and reached the finals.
Unfortunately, the final was no different as CSK crushed RCB by 58 runs and took home their second consecutive trophy. After posting 205/5 in their 20 overs, CSK gave no hope to RCB to chase it down. As soon as Chris Gayle, that year’s MVP, was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin, RCB were on the backfoot. Therefore, just like that, in the first 4 years of the IPL, RCB had lost two Finals, losing out on two opportunities to win the trophy.
The next few years were extremely tough for RCB to be anywhere near the IPL final. After ending up 5th, 5th, and 7th in the 2012, 2013, and 2014 IPL seasons, respectively, RCB reached the playoffs once again in 2015. RCB had defeated Rajasthan Royals convincingly in the Eliminator to face Chennai Super Kings in the second Qualifier. CSK once again beat their Southern Derby rivals by 3 wickets to deny them a chance to reach the finals.
Another year had gone by, and RCB were still left without a trophy. The very next year, i.e., 2016, was when it looked like the stars had finally aligned for the Bengaluru side. In 2016, Virat Kohli found the Midas touch with the bat; he was in God-like form, batting in every innings like a Maestro.
He scored 973 runs that season, spearheading RCB into the finals like a slingshot. They had defeated the Gujarat Lions (now a defunct team) in the first Qualifier and booked their place in the finals before any other team. Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, had a tough job beating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), then Gujarat Lions (GL), and then facing RCB in the final.
As logic would dictate, RCB were the better side going into that final since they were better rested, better prepared, and with more mental freshness to approach the final. Despite their uphill road in reaching the final, SRH put up a more-than-decent total of 208/7 in their 20 overs. David Warner scored a 69 of 38 balls, and Ben Cutting provided some firepower towards the end, scoring a quickfire 39 of just 15 balls. Cutting’s firepower at the end helped SRH post a total of 208/7.
Despite such a great total, SRH were reeling at one point when RCB started the chase. RCB were 114/0 in 10 overs, well on their merry way of chasing the total. They needed 95 off 60 balls, and they had all the wickets in hand. But the moment Gayle was dismissed by Ben Cutting for a well-made 76 of 38 balls, things looked ominous for RCB.
As has been the luck of RCB, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals, and an easily winnable match suddenly started to fall apart for them. In the end, RCB could only manage 200/7 in their 20 overs, losing the match by 7 runs. After losing the 2009 IPL final by 6 runs, RCB had lost yet another final by 7 runs at that time. It was another excruciating defeat, and the RCB fans were most hurt at this point.
This was the 3rd time RCB had lost in an IPL final. After 2016, there was a string of bad results from RCB. They finished 8th, 6th, and 8th in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions, respectively. In 2020 and 2021, they somehow managed to reach the playoffs, but lost at the first attempt to make it even further. They ended up 4th on both those occasions.
In 2022, RCB came 3rd, when Jos Butler’s brilliant hundred blew them away and sent RR into the finals. RCB had one more chance last year, i.e. 2024 IPL, when they stunningly reached the playoffs from being at the bottom of the table mid-way into the season. RCB had won 1 out of their first 8 games in 2024, and they went on to win every single remaining game in the group stages, i.e., all 7 of them, to end up 4th in the table. Unfortunately for them, though, RR beat them in the Eliminator.
After all the struggles and the close finishes, RCB are in the finals one more time this year in 2025. This is their fourth final in IPL history, and they are more pumped than ever. RCB fans are prepared for it, and they believe they can do it this time. With only one more match to go, will RCB finally achieve their long dream of winning the IPL this year? E Saala Cup Namde.
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