RCB vs PBKS IPL 2025 Final: Virat Kohli embraces former teammate AB de Villiers in emotional reunion

Mint

2 days ago

Virat Kohli had a heartfelt reunion with his best friend and former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate AB de Villiers at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Kohli and his RCB side are looking to make history as they chase a maiden IPL title in today's summit clash against the Punjab Kings, who are also in search of their maiden IPL trophy. Watch the emotional reunion here:
On the eve of the IPL 2025 Final, the South African threw his weight behind his long-time friend to make history for the Bengaluru franchise.
The South African legend, who spent over a decade with the franchise with Kohli, gave an emotional message urging his good friend to embrace the moment.
In a video shared by Star Sports on X, de Villiers said, 'My message to Virat is to go out and enjoy and have fun out there. Put a smile on your face. I will be there watching you. Bring that (IPL) trophy home. Enjoy every minute of it." Watch here:
PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and he chose to field first. Both teams went with an unchanged XI.
Speaking to Ravi Shastri after winning the toss, Iyer said, "I want to give positive signs to my mind and body. I feel it's an amazing day, here at the moment. Crowd here is electrifying, just want to cherish. Boys in a brilliant mindset.
"All we talked in the meeting was about how keeping calm gives the best results. That's been the message throughout. We hope to embrace the occasion. I'm absolutely fine. I want to say it's just another game, but it's a final, we're gonna play it like a final.
'It's going to be a tremendous feeling, just thinking about lifting the trophy. Already envisioned it, all in the mind right now. Want to go out and execute to the best of our abilities, Same team.'
RCB captain Rajat Patidar would have also chosen to field first had we won the toss. He said, 'We also wanted to bowl. Surface looks hard. Will try to put on a good total. Till now we've played well, it's just another game for us.
"We'll give it our best. It's a big stage but it's just another away game for us. Everyone's played well till now, will try to do the same now.
"Same team. Looks a good pitch, flat, mix of red and black soil. Should be good to bat.'
Royal Challengers Bengaluru XI: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Rajat Patidar (capt), 5 Liam Livingstone, 6 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 7 Romario Shepherd, 8 Krunal Pandya, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Yash Dayal, 11 Josh Hazlewood
RCB impact bench: Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Dar, Manoj Bhandage, Tim Seifert, Swapnil Singh
Punjab Kings XI: 1 Priyansh Arya, 2 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 3 Josh Inglis (wk), 4 Nehal Wadhera, 5 Shashank Singh, 6 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Vijaykumar Vyshak, Azmatullah Omarzai, 9 Kyle Jamieson, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
PBKS Impact bench: Prabhsimran Singh, Xavier Bartlett, Harpreet Brar, Suryansh Shedge, Praveen Dubey
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