Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) failed to make it past Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Eliminator but their star opener Virat Kohli ended up winning the Orange Cap. Kohli created history as he became the first batter to win the orange cap twice in IPL history.
“Extremely honoured to win the orange cap this season. It was a rollercoaster of a ride, I was really pleased with the way I performed for the team, especially in the latter half where we needed to win every game to qualify. Thank you everyone for your support,” Kohli said in a recorded video as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Shreyas Iyer collected the award on his behalf.
When Kohli’s name was announced by presenter Harsha Bhogle, the crowd at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, chanted ‘Kohli-Kohli’.
The former RCB captain scored 741 runs from 15 innings at an average of 61.75 including one century and five half-centuries. His strike rate was 154.69.
The last time he won the orange cap was in IPL 2016 when RCB were beaten in the final by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Among the players who played IPL 2024 final, SRH opener Travis Head was the highest run-scorer. Head scored 567 runs from 15 games at an average of 40.50 including one century and four fifties. His strike rate was an excellent 191.55.
During the IPL eliminator clash, Kohli also became the first player in IPL history to score 8,000 runs.
Kohli thanks fans and Karthik
"Thank you once again to all the fans of rcb for making us feel loved and appreciated as always" Kohli captioned his social media post after the toss to RR.
Kohli also praised his RCB teammate Dinesh Karthik who made his last IPL appearance. He recalled his conversation with Karthik when he was struggling with confidence.
“Off the field, I have had some really nice and interesting conversations with Karthik. He is wise man, has great knowledge about a lot of things, not just cricket. I have thoroughly enjoyed my conversations with him. Even in that phase in 2022 when I did not have a great IPL season, I was really struggling for confidence, Karthik sat me down a couple of times and gave me a very honest explanation of how he is seeing things and maybe I am not able to see them myself,” Kohli recalled.
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