Former India spinner R Ashwin gave a Ramayan analogy to describe the relationship between RCB captain Rajat Patidar and
veteran batter Virat Kohli. His comments came after RCB’s stunning five-wicket win over Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL 2026 final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, May 31.

Ashwin said in his recent YouTube video: “Even ahead of today’s match, it was Virat talking in the huddle. The partnership is like, ‘Big brother, you take care of the team, I’m just the captain.’ You run this team, but I will just be the leader. Like what Bharat did with Ram’s slippers in Ramayan, Rajat did that here. The way Virat was talking, Rajat Patidar was watching him with the team, literally giving that space to Virat. Virat Kohli is an alpha in a team, and he will always remain an alpha. Even if he is not captaining, he will remain the alpha.”

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However, R Ashwin also feels RCB had a perfect game in terms of tactics, barring one questionable decision as well. He also added that RCB erred by giving the first over of the match to Jacob Duffy instead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Hazlewood.

“RCB’s first and only mistake in the match was giving the first over to Jacob Duffy. They did not make any mistakes after that. Jacob Duffy gave 13 runs. Jofra Archer conceded 19 runs from the first over in the last game, and the match was over,” he concluded.