Virat Kohli (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) New Delhi: Virat Kohli is the highest run-scorer in IPL history and his consistency over the years has firmly established him as one of the best the tournament has ever seen. After years of near misses, Kohli finally fulfilled his long-held dream of lifting the IPL trophy in 2025 with Royal Challengers Bengaluru, ending an 18-year wait.Kohli has already won major ICC titles, the ICC U19 World Cup, the ICC Cricket World Cup, the ICC T20 World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy, adding to his trophy cabinet with the IPL title last year. Now heading into IPL 2026, he enters the season with a rare sense of freedom.He may not have anything to prove as a batsman or to RCB fans. But now, unencumbered by the pressure of expectations, he can just go out and play his natural game, just like he did in the past. In 2021, when Kohli stepped down as RCB captain, he stated in the RCB podcast diaries.
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RCB’s big changes ahead of IPL: New rules, tribute and squad update “I captained India for 7-8 years and RCB for nine. In every match I was expected to be the batsman. I never felt the spotlight was on me. If not the captaincy, it was my batting. I was exposed to it 24×7. It was very tough and eventually it was too much.”Clearly, his thought process then was not of someone resigned to his fate, but of someone who still longed to bring home a trophy for his franchise, albeit not as a captain. Interestingly, since the 2021 campaign, Kohli has been a different beast, scoring 341 (2022), 639 (2023), 741 (2024) and 657 (2025) in the following four seasons. Kohli was out of form during the COVID-19 pandemic era where he struggled for runs but still managed to lead his team to back-to-back play-offs in 2020 and 2021. After leaving the captaincy, he gained the mental freedom to simply go out, bat and express himself.Kohli has time and again admitted how much winning the title means to him and having the IPL trophy in his cabinet is why he can be the most dangerous version of himself in this edition.“Having a history of near misses and near misses in the past where we’ve made it to the final and not been able to win, I think it’s given us extra motivation to keep our nerve. As the league has become a lot more competitive, we’ve had to play really good cricket to get to the final. It’s not a fluke, it’s not a fluke. We beat some really good teams today who deserved to be here and we deserved to be here.” during a recent video shared by RCB reflecting on their title winning campaign.Kohli’s best IPL season came in 2016 when he established himself as one of the most dangerous batsmen in IPL history. He finished the season with a record 973 runs in 16 innings, including four hundreds. That year belonged to Kohli as he dominated the bowlers at all positions. Notably, Kohli has won two Orange Caps, 2016 (973 runs) and 2024 (741 runs).After winning the trophy in 2025, when Kohli returned to the international team against South Africa, he scored two consecutive ODI centuries. It signaled to fans that his era of dominance had returned. In December, his former teammate Ravichandran Ashwin also warned IPL teams about Kohli’s form, which could be a problem for other franchises:“I feel all teams should be really worried if Virat comes with an open mind,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
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Kohli as RCB captain
Kohli took over as RCB’s full-time captain in 2013 after Daniel Vettori retired, although he had previously led the team as interim captain several times in 2011 and 2012 when Vettori was unavailable. Kohli led RCB in 143 matches, securing 66 wins, 70 losses, 3 draws and 4 no results. His most notable captaincy achievement came in IPL 2016 when he led RCB to the final, though they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad.After stepping down from the captaincy in 2021, he made a different impact in the team and took on the role of anchoring the innings as a veteran batsman, a role he has played for the past 4-5 seasons. Now, with a title to his name, IPL 2026 could see a different Kohli, still hungry but playing with a freedom unencumbered by the pressure of expectations.
