"Ee sala cup namdu" – RCB trinity Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle react after ending 18-year-long trophy drought in IPL 2025 final [Watch]

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) legends Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and Chris Gayle were over the moon after the franchise beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six runs to win the IPL 2025 final in Ahmedabad on Tuesday (June 3). The trio celebrated by saying “Ee sala cup namdu” [This time, the cup is ours] during the post-match show with the host broadcaster after ending their 18-year-long trophy drought in the T20 league.

Watch the moment below:

Virat Kohli was the only active member of the trio in the summit clash. The right-hander scored a valuable 43 off 35 balls in the all-important final.

Meanwhile, De Villiers and Gayle were inducted into the RCB Hall of Fame in 2022. De Villiers represented the franchise from 2011 to 2021 before retiring from professional cricket. Meanwhile, Gayle played for RCB from 2011 to 2017. The duo played their last final in 2016 against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH).

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“I’ve shared my prime years with them” – Virat Kohli reacts to his camaraderie with Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers

Virat Kohli expressed his delight at reuniting with AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle after RCB won the IPL 2025 final. He talked about the camaraderie they shared during their prime. The 36-year-old told Star Sports:

“I’ve shared my prime years with them and I know how much were are trying to win this. And, we felt we were so close a couple of times and we were such a good team and 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, really really from the bottom of our hearts, we wanted to win that title for RCB.”

“And, I promise you it feels 10 times more special just because of the fact that these two are standing next to me. Because of the connection, you see when they came to Bangalore. It’s not just me, when they come you see how people love them and they’ve got absolutely berserk because they know and they appreciate. They’ve given their heart and soul for the team till the time they’ve played here and they deserve it as much I do,” Kohli added.

Click here to check out the PBKS vs RCB IPL 2025 final scorecard.