Berliner Tageszeitung - Kohli dubbed 'heartbeat' of IPL champions in coach Flower tribute

The 37-year-old Kohli was there at the end as Bengaluru chased 156 to beat Gujarat Titans by five wickets in Sunday's final in Ahmedabad.

Dubbed the "chase master", Kohli finished with a six and a total of 675 runs in the T20 tournament.

"Virat, I know you get a lot of attention and quite rightly," head coach Andy Flower said in a Royal Challengers Bengaluru video tribute released Monday.

"But I don't want to downplay that, because you are a heartbeat in this dressing room."

Kohli got the team off to a flying start in a 62-run opening stand with Venkatesh Iyer and later anchored the chase.

He hammered Gujarat pace bowler Kagiso Rabada for two fours and a six to set the tone for his team's domination at the 130,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium, which was packed with Kohli fans.

"He relishes these situations, he looks forward to these situations where he can show how good a player he is," former India captain Sunil Gavaskar told Sports Today.

"What kind of a temperament he has, the winning mindset that he has."

IPL chairman Arun Dhumal said: "Virat doesn't need any trophies. He is a trophy himself."

Bengaluru and Kohli have been on a roll in the T20 tournament since winning their first IPL crown at the 18th attempt last year.

Bengaluru finished top of the 10-team table after the league stage and hammered Gujarat in the first play-off for a direct entry into the final.

A majority of the 90,000 crowd seemed to be wearing Kohli's number 18 shirt, with chants of "Kohli, Kohli" filling the air.

"I always say we don't have seven home games, we probably have 14," Kohli said after being named player of the match.

"Everywhere we go, we have fans cheering the team and really getting behind us.

"I mean, GT are probably the home side, but you see 90 percent of the guys are RCB fans. Their support is priceless."

The team will not stage any public homecoming with the trophy on Monday.

A victory parade for their inaugural title win a year ago resulted in a stampede and crush outside Bengaluru's M. Chinnaswamy Stadium that killed 11 people.

"Obviously, you feel bad -- you lost your fans after winning the game," Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar said after this year's win.

"Not just fans, they are the family members. I always want to dedicate this trophy to them. I don't have words to express that feeling."

F. Schulze--BTZ