The current Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team, according to legendary batsman AB de Villiers, is much more than just Virat Kohli and ten other players.
De Villiers has given appreciation to the entire team for helping RCB win their first Indian Premier League (IPL) championship in 2025. He also thanked players like Rajat Patidar, Liam Livingstone, and Krunal Pandya for helping their team win in the grand event. The pivotal match demonstrated that RCB is much more than simply Kohli, something the former skipper would also value going into 2026.
“The final is a great example, with Virat scoring 43 runs off 35 balls. But it was actually Patidar, Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma and Romario Shepherd who scored at a high strike rate and helped the team post 190-plus, ultimately winning the game. Krunal Pandya also chipped in with the ball,” de Villiers said via JioStar.
“That’s my point, players contributing like that throughout the season, and the bowling attack stepping up. Virat can feel that, he can sense that he is not the only one carrying the load anymore. He has a squad of fighters around him, all gunning to win the trophy. I think they are in a really good place. It’s a similar squad, they didn’t have to change much, and they have good reason to believe they can go all the way again this coming season,” he added.
Virat Kohli has the best work ethic I have ever seen in my life: AB de Villiers
RCB is among the contenders of winning the IPL once again in 2026 due to their performance last season and that they will initiate the same set of players. However, in this instance Kohli will remain as important to their success as ever. Nevertheless, the 37-year-old has not played in a professional game since the ODI series of India against New Zealand in mid January.
Nevertheless, the fact that Kohli has not played much in IPL does not bother De Villiers much. It would be only appropriate to the future, as the former RCB star would make the New Delhi native well-prepared and ready to lead his team into consecutive titles in 2026.
“First of all, he has the best work ethic I have ever seen in my life. So, he will not come into the tournament undercooked. If he doesn’t play well, it will purely be down to form or maybe a technical error. I am expecting a great season from him. I can only imagine how hyped he must be after getting quite a bit of rest,” the former South Africa cricketer said.
“Virat will most definitely be ready, there is no doubt about it, and RCB can actually go back-to-back. You will remember him speaking about it often in the dressing room, ‘If we can win one, we are going to win two, three, four quickly.’ I truly believe that. I feel RCB are in that zone now where they can go bang, bang, bang, perhaps two or three trophies in a row, who knows. I am just hoping for a really good start this season, I think that will be important for them. My advice to Virat would be to just go out there and enjoy,” de Villiers added.
Virat Kohli exclusively plays 50-over cricket outside of the IPL. He has scored four hundreds and one score in the nineties in his last ten games in the format. This included two consecutive hundreds in late 2025 against South Africa and another in January versus New Zealand. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025–2026, he also struck an incredible century for Delhi against Andhra Pradesh.
