Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad has lavished praise on Virat Kohli after Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Gujarat Titans by five wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Sunday to win their second IPL title.

Chasing 156 for the win, Kohli scored a fine knock of 75 runs off just 42 balls. The talisman struck nine fours and three sixes in his blistering knock as he batted at the top of his game. The veteran once again made the most of his experience in the run-chase and got the job done for his team. Thus, he was awarded Player of the Match in the all-important final.

“There is an argument that he (Kohli) could be the most important cricketer ever in such a moving environment that we’ve seen over the last, sort of, 15 years. For clarity on his achievements, he’s won the under-19 World Cup as captain. Champions Trophy twice, ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, held the World Test Championship Mace as captain for 3 years and now 2 IPL titles,” Broad said on his For the Love of Cricket podcast.

The former English seamer likened Kohli’s IPL victory to legendary golf player Rory McIlroy’s eagerly anticipated Masters Tournament breakthrough and successful championship defense earlier this year. 

“…it did feel like the IPL was going to be the one that slipped past him (Kohli), didn’t it?” Broad said. It’s sort of that Rory McIlroy scenario where everyone was sort of desperate for him to win. It looked like he just wasn’t going to get over the line. And then once he’s won it, gone back-to-back,” Broad said. 

“And there must have been some good leadership around that group, including him, to be able to, I don’t know, it’s not easy to go back-to-back. It’s not easy just to turn up for the next season. Oh, we’ll just do it again. You know, you have to reset your goals. You have to reset your motivation and drive. And Kohli just never lacks drive, does he?” he added.

Kohli scored a total of 675 runs in 16 matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 56.25 and a strike rate of 165.84.