Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain Virat Kohli broke Suresh Raina’s record for most catches for an Indian fielder in T20 cricket (including franchise cricket, domestic cricket, and T20Is). Kohli went past former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) cricketer Raina’s record of 172 catches with the catch PBKS opener Jonny Bairstow in the third over of the innings off Mohammed Siraj.
Raina had 172 catches from 336 games. Kohli went past him in his 378th T20 appearance. The next on the list are Indian skipper Rohit Sharma (167 catches), Manish Pandey (146 catches) and Suryakumar Yadav (136 catches).
Overall, Kohli is the 15th on the list of fielders with most catches in T20 cricket. The top spot is occupied by former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard who has 362 catches to his name.
Another catching record in waiting
Kohli now has 174 catches in T20 cricket. He took PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan in the 13th over as well. Meanwhile, Kohli needs two more catches to surpass Raina on another list. The 35-year-old has 108 catches now, one less than Raina. He will have a chance to get the record in his name against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on March 29.
Former Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder Pollard is the only other fielder with more than 100 catches in IPL history. Rohit (99), Ravindra Jadeja (97) and Dhawan (96) are likely to be the next to join the 100 catches club.
Kohli’s another massive feat
In the previous game, Kohli completed 12,000 T20 runs. He became the second-fastest to achieve the feat, only behind Chris Gayle. However, he could not accelerate in the IPL 2024 opener against CSK where he departed for a 20-ball 21. RCB lost their opening game to defending champions CSK in a comprehensive manner on March 22.
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