New Delhi: Virat Kohli I am the highest run scorer. IPL The history, and its consistency over the years, has firmly established it as one of the biggest tournaments of its kind. After years of being close, 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 Under-19 World Cup, the ICC Cricket World Cup, the ICCT20 World Cup, and the ICC Champions Trophy, and he completed 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 has nothing left to prove as a batsman or to RCB fans. But now, without the pressure of expectations, he can simply go out and play his natural game, as he has done in the past. In 2021, when Kohli quit his RCB captaincy, he said on the RCB podcast diaries. “I captained India for 7-8 years and RCB for nine years. There were expectations on me as a batsman in every single match. I never felt the focus shifted away from me. If not the captaincy, it was my batting. I was facing it 24×7. It was very difficult and ultimately too much.”Clearly, his thought process at the time was not that of someone resigned to his fate, but of someone still yearning to bring home that trophy for his franchise, albeit not as captain. Interestingly, since the 2021 campaign, Kohli has been a different animal, scoring 341 (2022), 639 (2023), 741 (2024) and 657 (2025) in the four seasons since. Kohli was out of form during the COVID-19 pandemic, where he struggled for runs, but still managed to lead his team to the playoffs in 2020 and 2021. After giving up captaincy, he found the mental freedom to simply come out, bat and express himself.Kohli has repeatedly admitted how much winning the title means to him, and having the IPL trophy in his cabinet could prove to be the most dangerous version of himself in this edition.“Given the history in recent memory and the near moments in the past where we reached the final and we didn’t win, I think it gave us extra motivation to hold our nerve. Because the league has become so competitive, we have to play really good cricket to reach the final. It’s not a fluke, it’s not a coincidence. We’ve beaten some really good teams, and we’re an amazing team that has earned the right to be here on this day,” Virat said 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 ended the season with a record 973 runs in 16 innings, including four centuries. 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 setup against South Africa, he scored two back-to-back ODI centuries. He signaled to fans that his dominance is back. In December, his former colleagues Ravichandran Ashwin Also warned IPL teams about Kohli’s form, which could spell trouble for other franchises:“I just feel that if Virat comes with an open mind, all the teams should be really worried,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Kohli as RCB captain
Kohli took over as RCB’s full-time captain in 2013 after Daniel Vettori retired, although he has led the team as interim captain several times in 2011 and 2012 when Vettori was unavailable. Kohli led RCB in 143 matches, with 66 wins, 70 losses, 3 ties, and 4 draws. His most notable feat as captain came in IPL 2016, when he guided RCB to the final, though they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad.After stepping down from the captaincy in 2021, he created a different impact in the team, anchoring the innings as a veteran batsman, a role he has fulfilled in the last 4-5 seasons. Now, with the title to his name, IPL 2026 could see a different Kohli, still hungry, but playing with freedom without the pressure of expectations.
