Virat and I have talked about it few times: Rahul recalls IPL 2016 final

KL Rahul went down memory lane to the IPL 2016 final where Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) agonisingly fell short. With a chance to lift the title for the first time in front of their home crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, RCB lost by eight runs. Despite a season where Virat Kohli scored 973 runs with four centuries, the Challengers failed to have the last laugh.
Chasing a target of 209, RCB could only manage 200 for seven. Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli’s 114-run stand for the opening wicket went in vain. KL Rahul began with a boundary before Ben Cutting, who won the Player of the Match award, dismissed him for 11. Having lost five out of their first seven games, RCB made a strong comeback only to succumb at the final hurdle.
“It’s long time ago, but it’s still fresh in my memories. I and Virat (Kohli) always talked about it a few times that 2016 is always a reminder that had one of us played a little longer, it would have been very different. It would have been a fairytale to be right at the bottom to win seven games to qualify and then win the final at home,” Rahul said on a show on Star Sports.
Rahul, who has played 132 matches in the IPL since his debut back in 2013, said that the IPL is about players wanting to win rather than the glitz and glamour around it.
“People think IPL is all about glamour where people come, play, leave and return next year. But it’s not that way. Every player enters the IPL and any tournament wanting to win. If you don’t have that drive in you, then I don’t think you will make it to any level of sport,” Rahul added.
Apart from RCB, Rahul also plied his trade for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). In fact, Rahul once held the record for the fastest fifty in the IPL off 14 balls before Yashasvi Jaiswal broke it in the previous season.