The in-form Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) opener Virat Kohli is expected to achieve a major milestone. Kohli is just 29 runs away from becoming the first batter to score 8,000 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Before the IPL 2024 eliminator clash against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on May 22, Kohli has scored 7,971 runs from 251 games at an average of 38.69 including eight centuries and 55 half-centuries.
For RCB, the 35-year-old has scored 8,395 runs from 266 games at an average of 38.68. The 425 runs outside IPL he has scored for RCB came in the now-defunct Champions League T20. From 15 games, he has scored 424 runs at an average of 38.54 including two half-centuries in the Champions League T20.
Kohli in a league of his own
Kohli is way ahead of his counterparts on the list of leading run-scorers in IPL. Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shikhar Dhawan who missed out majority of the season due to injury has 6,769 runs. He is followed by Mumbai Indians (MI) opener Rohit Sharma (6,628 runs) and Delhi Capitals (DC) opener David Warner (6,565 runs). Kohli is unlikely to be dethroned in the next few IPL seasons.
Kohli chasing his own record
Kohli has been one of the main reasons behind RCB's miraculous comeback to register six wins on the trot and qualify for the playoffs. He has scored 708 runs from 14 innings at an average of 64.36 including one century and five half-centuries. His strike rate is 155.60. He is likely to hold on to Orange Cap as well irrespective of whether RCB reach the final or not.
Kohli has a chance to break his own record for most runs in an IPL season. In 2016, when Kohli led RCB to the final, he scored 973 runs from 16 innings at an average of 81.08 including four centuries and seven half-centuries.
Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener Matthew Hayden has also backed Kohli to get past his IPL 2016 numbers.
"We are looking at Virat Kohli celebrating his second-best season thus far. He could go well past his IPL 2016 performance in the kind of form that he's in. So more than anything, I just think it's the energy and the love of the game, the passion, the commitment for it all—all of those describing words that you can glorify this great man with, whether it be on the field or with bat in hand. He just loves it; it's crazy," Hayden told Star Sports.
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