A night of celebration turned emotional and historic as Virat Kohli heaped praise on Rajat Patidar, the young captain of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), during the team's felicitation ceremony at a packed M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The event followed RCB’s first-ever IPL title win, ending an 18-year wait after their dramatic six-run victory over Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 final.
Amid roaring chants and fireworks, Kohli took to the stage and delivered a heartfelt tribute to Patidar, who led the side with composure and grit in the most crucial phase of the tournament. The stadium erupted in cheers when Kohli said, “So when we did our unboxing and we were going to call upon our new captain, I had requested you guys to back him and to support him. I said one thing very clearly—that this guy is going to lead us for a long, long time to come. Please welcome our captain, Rajat Patidar.”
Following Kohli’s rousing introduction, Patidar emerged from the tunnel holding the IPL trophy aloft, greeted by a thunderous ovation from the sea of red-clad fans who had waited nearly two decades for this moment. The sight of Patidar with the trophy at Chinnaswamy symbolized a changing of the guard and the beginning of a new chapter in RCB’s legacy.
BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla Responds To Bengaluru Stampede, Calls For Collective Damage Control; Video
In the wake of the tragic stampede outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru that reportedly claimed at least 11 lives during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) IPL victory celebrations, BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla has issued a statement urging collaborative efforts for damage control and clarity on how the situation unfolded.
Speaking to ANI, Shukla acknowledged that government authorities had already cancelled the open-top bus roadshow in an effort to avoid overcrowding and any potential stampede-like scenario. However, he admitted that the crowd surge outside the stadium gates had not been anticipated.
"The government did stop the roadshow in order to avoid stampede or any such situation. But it was not anticipated that a stampede would happen outside the stadium. Everybody should work together on the damage control," Shukla said.
The incident occurred on June 4, as thousands of RCB fans swarmed the Chinnaswamy Stadium for a felicitation ceremony following the team’s maiden IPL title win, achieved just a day earlier. With free passes and celebratory fervor spreading rapidly across social media, crowd control became increasingly difficult, ultimately leading to a deadly stampede outside the stadium gates.
