Batting superstar Virat Kohli is playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the first match of IPL 2026, which is taking place at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, March 28, against Sunrisers
Hyderabad. Virat’s inclusion in RCB’s playing XI has helped him enter his name in the history books. The 36-year-old right-handed batter from Delhi, who now resides in London with his wife Anushka Sharma and children — Vamika and Akaay — becomes the first cricketer in the world to play in all 19 seasons of the Indian Premier League.
He made his IPL debut on April 18, 2008, for RCB against Kolkata Knight Riders at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium and has been associated with them since then. Kohli is the only player in IPL history to play for only one team.
In the IPL, apart from being the first player to play all 19 editions, Kohli also holds the record for scoring the most runs in the tournament’s history.
Virat Kohli’s performance in IPL (per season)
| YEAR | MATCHES | INNINGS | RUNS | BEST SCORE | AVERAGE | STRIKE RATE | 100/50s | 4/6s |
| 2008 | 13 | 12 | 165 | 38 | 15.00 | 105.09 | 0/0 | 18/4 |
| 2009 | 16 | 13 | 246 | 50 | 22.36 | 112.32 | 0/1 | 22/8 |
| 2010 | 16 | 13 | 307 | 58 | 27.90 | 144.81 | 0/1 | 26/12 |
| 2011 | 16 | 16 | 557 | 71 | 46.41 | 121.08 | 0/4 | 55/16 |
| 2012 | 16 | 15 | 364 | 73* | 28.00 | 111.65 | 0/2 | 33/9 |
| 2013 | 16 | 16 | 634 | 99 | 45.28 | 138.73 | 0/6 | 64/22 |
| 2014 | 14 | 14 | 359 | 73 | 27.61 | 122.10 | 0/2 | 23/16 |
| 2015 | 16 | 16 | 505 | 82* | 45.90 | 130.82 | 0/3 | 35/23 |
| 2016 | 16 | 16 | 973 | 113 | 81.08 | 152.03 | 4/7 | 83/38 |
| 2017 | 10 | 10 | 308 | 64 | 30.80 | 122.22 | 0/4 | 23/11 |
| 2018 | 14 | 14 | 530 | 92* | 48.18 | 139.10 | 0/4 | 52/18 |
| 2019 | 14 | 14 | 464 | 100 | 33.14 | 141.46 | 1/2 | 46/13 |
| 2020 | 15 | 15 | 466 | 90 | 42.36 | 121.35 | 0/3 | 23/11 |
| 2021 | 15 | 15 | 405 | 72* | 28.92 | 119.46 | 0/3 | 43/9 |
| 2022 | 16 | 16 | 341 | 73 | 22.73 | 115.98 | 0/2 | 32/8 |
| 2023 | 14 | 14 | 639 | 101* | 53.25 | 139.82 | 2/6 | 65/16 |
| 2024 | 15 | 15 | 741 | 113* | 61.75 | 154.69 | 1/5 | 62/38 |
| 2025 | 15 | 15 | 657 | 73* | 54.75 | 144.71 | 0/8 | 66/19 |
| 2026 | 1* | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
List of records held by Kohli in IPL
Kohli, who won his maiden IPL title last year (in 2025), holds multiple batting records in the IPL. Apart from being the highest run-getter in the league’s history, he also holds the record for scoring the most runs in one edition, most centuries (and half-centuries) in the IPL and the most boundaries (fours and sixes combined).
He also tops the list of batters with the most runs against one team in the tournament’s history and has won two Orange Caps so far.
- Most runs in IPL: Virat Kohli (8661)
- Most runs (for one team): Virat Kohli (8661)
- Most runs (against one team): Virat Kohli (1159 runs in 36 matches against Punjab Kings)
- Most runs (in one edition): Virat Kohli (973 in 16 matches of 2016 season)
- Most 100s: 8 centuries
- Most 50s: 63 half-centuries
- Most 50+ scores: 71
- Most IPL matches (for one team): 267 for RCB
- Most boundaries (4 and 6s combined): 1062
- Most fours: 771
- Most sixes (for one team): 291 for RCB
- Most runs (at one stadium): 3202 in 94 matches at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Kohli’s fee for IPL 2026
Kohli, who is RCB’s most capped player in IPL history, was retained for Rs 21 crore by the Bengaluru-based franchise ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction and he is RCB’s most expensive player this year as well. In the last edition of IPL (in 2025), Kohli played 15 matches for RCB under Rajat Patidar’s leadership and amassed a total of 657 runs to top the run-getters list.
- 2008-2010: Rs 12 lakh/season
- 2011-2014: Rs 8 crore/season
- 2016-2017: Rs 12 crore/season
- 2018-2021: Rs 17 crore/season
- 2022-2024: Rs 15 crore/season
- 2025-2026: Rs 21 crore/season
Kohli’s record vs SRH in IPL
In the IPL, Kohli has played 24 matches so far against Sunrisers Hyderabad and scored 805 runs. He tops the list of batters with the most runs in the world’s richest franchise cricket league against the Hyderabad-based team that won their only title in 2016 by getting the better of RCB in the final played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
| RUNS | BALLS | 4s | 6s | STRIKE RATE | VENUE | DATE |
| 46 | 44 | 5 | 1 | 104.54 | Hyderabad | April 7, 2013 |
| 93* | 47 | 11 | 4 | 197.87 | Bengaluru | April 9, 2013 |
| 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bengaluru | May 4, 2014 |
| 67 | 41 | 4 | 4 | 163.41 | Hyderabad | May 20, 2014 |
| 41 | 37 | 4 | 2 | 110.81 | Bengaluru | April 13, 2015 |
| 44* | 19 | 3 | 3 | 231.57 | Hyderabad | May 15, 2015 |
| 75 | 51 | 7 | 3 | 147.05 | Bengaluru | April 12, 2016 |
| 14 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 82.35 | Hyderabad | April 30, 2016 |
| 54 | 35 | 5 | 2 | 154.28 | Bengaluru | May 29, 2016 |
| 39 | 30 | 5 | 1 | 130 | Hyderabad | May 7, 2018 |
| 12 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 109.09 | Bengaluru | May 17, 2018 |
| 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 30 | Hyderabad | March 31, 2019 |
| 16 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 228.57 | Bengaluru | May 4, 2019 |
| 14 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 107.69 | Dubai | September 21, 2020 |
| 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 100 | Sharjah | October 31, 2020 |
| 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 85.71 | Abu Dhabi | November 6, 2020 |
| 33 | 29 | 4 | 0 | 113.79 | Chennai | April 14, 2021 |
| 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 125 | Abu Dhabi | October 6, 2021 |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mumbai (BS) | April 23, 2022 |
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Mumbai (WS) | May 8, 2022 |
| 100 | 63 | 12 | 4 | 158.73 | Hyderabad | May 18, 2023 |
| 42 | 20 | 6 | 2 | 210 | Bengaluru | April 15, 2024 |
| 51 | 43 | 4 | 1 | 118.6 | Hyderabad | April 25, 2024 |
| 43 | 25 | 7 | 1 | 172 | Lucknow | May 23, 2025 |
Kohli has one century and five fifties to his credit against the Orange Army.
In the 2025 edition of the IPL, Kohli played one match against SRH and scored 43 runs from just 25. He batted with a strike rate of 172 in that fixture and slammed 7 fours and 1 six.
