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As Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) secured back-to-back Indian Premier League (IPL) titles, Phil Salt and Suyash Sharma became part of a rare trio of consecutive championship-winning campaigns.
The duo lifted the trophy with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 before adding successive titles with RCB in 2025 and 2026. RCB clinched IPL 2026 glory, riding on a stunning 75* off 42 by Virat Kohli, to beat Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL 2026 final in Ahmedabad on Sunday. RCB gunned down a tricky 156 runs to join five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) in the elite list of clubs to have won back-to-back IPL titles. Phil Salt enjoyed a dynamic IPL 2026 season for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, opening the batting and keeping wickets while scoring 202 runs in six matches at a blistering strike rate of 168.33. Across his 40-match IPL career, Salt has accumulated 1,258 runs at an impressive strike rate of 174.48, including 12 half-centuries. On the other hand, Sharma had a decent 2026 IPL season, taking 9 wickets in 12 matches while maintaining an economy rate of 9.21. Overall, in 39 matches, he has scalped 27 wickets at an average of 44.07. Coming to the match, put to bat first by RCB, GT scored just 155/8 in 20 overs, with Washington Sundar (50* in 37 balls, with five fours) and Nishant Sindhu (20 in 18 balls, with three fours) being the only ones to cross the 20-run mark. Rasikh Dar Salam (3/27), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/29) and Josh Hazlewood (2/37) took wickets regularly. RCB started well with a 62-run stand between Venkatesh Iyer (32 in 16 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and Virat Kohli. GT showed some fight, reducing RCB to 132/5 at one point, but Kohli's (75* in 42 balls, with nine fours and three sixes) guided RCB to a win with two overs left. (ANI)
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