Virat Kohli was seen teaching the famous Ee Saala Cup Namdu (this year, the cup is ours) phrase to former RCB cricketing greats Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers following RCB’s thrilling six-run victory over Punjab Kings in the 2025 Indian Premier League final. This was a very touching moment for Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s supporters.
Virat Kohli demanded Gayle and de Villiers repeat the mantra on live television as the win celebrations continued well past midnight at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In order to create a fantastic moment for both the audience at the venue and those watching it live on television, the three, who had been with the brand for a number of years through thick and thin, repeated the iconic statement together on air.
E sala cup namdu #esalacupnamdu kohli #gayle #abd #ipl pic.twitter.com/W6YEpsSpHl
— Harish.H (@Harishhalebeedu) June 3, 2025Before this historic moment, Kohli shared his genuine emotions and what it meant to him to win the title after so many seasons of futile pursuit of the coveted silverware, with Gayle and de Villiers the only constants by his side.
“For me, why it is so special that I get to share it with these two (Gayle and de Villiers) is because I’ve shared my prime years with them and I know how much we tried to win this. We had that explosiveness in our team, but we could never cross the line and all of us have that hurt because we gave our prime years to this franchise and we really, really — from the bottom of our hearts — wanted to win that title for RCB. I promise you, this feels 10 times more special just because of the fact that these two are standing next to us,” an emotional Kohli shared with Star Sports in a post-match interview.
Virat Kohli, who finished IPL 2025 with 657 runs in 15 innings, admitted that the trophy belonged just as much to Gayle and de Villiers as it did to him because of the relationship they had built over the years with Bengaluru and RCB’s local fan base in the Garden City.
“The title is honestly as much theirs as it’s mine because it’s the connection you see when they come to Bengaluru. It’s not just me. When they come (to the city), you see how people love them, and they go absolutely berserk because they know, and they appreciate that they’ve given their heart and soul for this team till the time they played here, and they deserve it as much as I do I know people are emotional, and they can tend to get carried away, but these two guys have given it everything as well so it’s equally theirs too.”
Virat Kohli
Gayle and de Villiers played for RCB for seven (2011-2017) and eleven (2011-2021) seasons, respectively. Both players achieved great success and engraved their names into the franchise’s history.
