SHUBRO MUKHERJEE ∙ 8 Feb 2022
"That is one game where I feel like it hurts” - Virat Kohli on IPL 2016 final
Former Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper and legendary batsman Virat Kohli recently strolled down memory lane to revisit the heart-breaking loss in the 2016 IPL final where his side came astonishingly close to winning their maiden title. The 2016 season of the cash-rich league belonged to one man and one man only- Virat Kohli. Fresh from his freak exploits in the T20 World Cup, Kohli achieved the zenith as far as batting in the shortest format is concerned as he racked up records for fun. The champion cricketer smashed a staggering 973 runs in 16 games at an average of 81 with the help of as many as four centuries - an all-time record in a single edition of any T20 tournament. However, he still ended up on the losing end of the spectrum as the David Warner-led SunRiser Hyderabad beat the Bangalore franchise by 8 runs in a high-scoring final. Speaking exclusively on the RCB podcast, Kohli admitted that the defeat still hurts. "That game, I felt like it was written. How could the finals be in Bangalore, and we played that kind of season, and we play that kind of a game where we are 100 for no loss in nine overs. "Even KL, to this day, if there’s a highlight package running, he takes a screenshot and says it still hurts. It does. You had these dejected faces sitting in that amazing victory setup that we had done for the post-victory celebration. There was no music and we had such a big setup. I wouldn’t say it was our day. That is one game where I feel like it hurts.” he added. "That season was unbelievable. That was so amazing in a way that you have four guys performing at their peak game in, game out – which is so rare to see in T20 cricket. We just got on a roll where we were like fine ‘if we are not doing well in the season, we could still make it’. The belief never went away which is really difficult to create. That happened very, very naturally that season,” the former RCB skipper said. Speaking about the final game, RCB looked well on course to win their maiden title after Chris Gayle (76 off 38 deliveries) and Kohli (54 off 35 deliveries) racked up 114 runs in just 10.3 overs while chasing 208. However, the dismissal of the opening pair trigger collapse as they lost 6-90 at the back end of the innings to fall short by 7 runs. Post that season, RCB have come no way near winning the title. They failed to qualify for the playoffs in three successive seasons in 2017, 2018 & 2019 before getting knocked out in the Eliminator in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
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