The passionate fans of Royal Challengers Bengaluru drove their support for the franchise into a frenzy in anticipation of their maiden title in Ahmedabad.

Countless reels and memes flooded social media with even RCB legends like AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle joining the bandwagon. De Villiers had promised Virat Kohli that he wouldn’t mouth the Kannada phrase “ee sala cup namde (this year the Cup is ours)” this time, fearing it might jinx their campaign, only to admit later in jest that he was forced to break the vow.

“Ee sala cup namde” is an emotion of the RCB fans and could translate close to the England football fans’ slogan, “The Cup is coming home”, each time they compete in
the World Cup or the Euro Championships.

Both De Villiers and Gayle, as promised, were present in Ahmedabad to cheer for their favourite IPL team.

Even former England captains Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton have been bitten by the bug and termed that RCB mentor and batting coach Dinesh Karthik would be “unbearable” if they won the IPL.

“RCB have got through to the finals. If they win that, DK is going to be unbearable. One season as coach/mentor and he’s won it,” Hussain said in jest on the Sky Sports podcast recently.

Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak too vouched his support for
RCB and was present at the stadium for the final. He reportedly received an RCB jersey as a wedding gift from his in-laws and has followed the team since.

An ardent cricket lover, Sunak touched upon the landscape-changing effect the Indian Premier League has had over the years.

“The IPL has transformed cricket. I think every cricketer, everywhere, wants to play in the IPL at some point in their career now,” he said.

As an array of RCB supporters descended in Ahmedabad, the BCCI and Gujarat Cricket Association made special ticket arrangements for the fans to watch the
final live from the stadium. Locals even offered free accommodation to the ones who were struggling to find one in the city.

RCB have a huge following on social media. Going into the final, its Instagram following stood at 20,627,897. RCB also are one of the most engaged sporting franchises in the world. In 2024, the team recorded over 1.8 billion social media engagements, ranking behind Real Madrid (3.3 billion) and FC Barcelona (2.3 billion).

Slogans of “AAR CEE BEE” reverberated through the Narendra Modi Stadium in the battle of reds on Tuesday.