Both PSG (left) and RCB (right) have been able to achieve success after a change in strategy and philosophy. | Photo Credit: AP, Vijay Soneji

The year is 2018 and after yet another disappointing season filled with demoralizing losses, Royal Challengers Bengaluru was in the lowest of lows with only a couple of runner-up finishes to its name. The brand however was no short of superstars. Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, two of the biggest names in world cricket wore the badge and yet only one question lingered, why can’t the team win the coveted IPL title?

7830 kilometres away in the city of the Seine, French club Paris Saint-Germain completed the signing of wonderkid Kylian Mbappe for a humongous 180 million euros in its quest towards European glory. It had been seven years since the side rose to riches with its ownership transferred to the Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), an investment fund led by Nasser Al-Khelaifi. Despite lavish spending on superstars like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar and Mbappe, the french club still stammered at the European stage with no UEFA Champions League to its name. A similar question to that of RCB remained, why can’t PSG taste European glory?

Three years later in 2021, both the teams reinforced their arsenal in the pursuit to glory. PSG pulled off a massive coup signing Lionel Messi and created their own galacticos including Messi, Neymar, Mbappe, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos and Marquinhos among other stars. At the same time, RCB acquired the services of Australian powerhouse Glenn Maxwell for a whopping 14.5 crores thus forming a batting trinity of Kohli, de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell.

The season started with RCB getting to the top of the table and PSG advancing to the knockouts of the Champions League. However, neither team could reach the finals of their respective competitions with their season ending in defeat in the knockouts.

The next three years wasn’t kind to either of the teams with heartbreaking exits in the knockout stages and superstar players failing to step up in crucial moments.

The shift in paradigm began in the 2025 season. Luis Enrique at PSG managed to build a squad without big names following Mbappe’s departure. RCB cashed in from the mega auction, letting go of Maxwell, Cameron Green while buying experienced names like Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood and Krunal Pandya.

RCB began the 2025 season playing a brand of cricket that is usually not relative with the team’s legacy. Every player was given immense role clarity and were backed to do the job. Phil Salt and Virat Kohli giving out blazing starts, Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar upping the tempo in the middle overs, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma and Romario Sheperd going all-out in the slog overs making up a destructive batting unit.

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The pace duo of Bhuvaneshwar and Hazlewood with supporting acts from Krunal and Suyash Sharma solidified the bowling. Suddenly, the team wasn’t dependent upon Kohli to score the runs. It was functioning like a well-oiled unit where each player in the squad had a particular role that they played to perfection which took the team to the finals.

PSG, under the tactical prowess of Luis Enrique and with a squad that was built around young players like Desire Doue and Vitinha with Ousmane Dembele as its central figure, turned a lot of heads with a fluid gameplay that led them to the final of the UCL 2024-25.

Eventually, both the sides finally had their long-awaited glory with RCB winning the IPL and PSG, the UCL.

Fast forward to the present day, the two teams have repeated their success. This streak of success that RCB and PSG have achieved further signifies the decline of the superstar culture, proving tactical prowess and role clarity takes precedence.

Published on Jun 01, 2026