Virat Kohli, the legendary Indian cricketer, recently joined the RCB camp at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, their home ground for the upcoming IPL season. RCB will begin their proceedings with their first game against SRH at the same venue.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru have been one of the most highly rated sides in the IPL over all these seasons. However, nobody gave them much of a chance after they named Rajat Patidar as the skipper ahead of the 2025 season. Proving everybody wrong, the skipper led RCB to their maiden IPL title, which the likes of Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli couldn’t.
RCB played largely as a remarkable unit. They had Phil Salt and Virat Kohli contributing at the top, and Jitesh Sharma and Tim David finishing off strongly for them. Josh Hazlewood handed them an early advantage with wickets with the new ball, and the spinners Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma took control of the middle overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar handled the rest in the death.
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If he comes with an open mindset, he can bat like IPL 2016 – Ravichandran Ashwin
Virat Kohli, the Indian batting legend, has retired from Tests and T20Is and only features in the 50-over format. Featuring in one format has remarkably reduced his workload and helped him to hit his prime once again.
After having shown some prolific form in the home series against South Africa and New Zealand, where he scored three centuries and two half-centuries in 6 innings, the RCB veteran is looking to make every moment count in the twilight years of his career.
Former teammate and ex-CSK spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes that if Virat turns up to the IPL with an open mindset to just enjoy his game, he can recreate the legendary form from the 2016 edition of the IPL.
“Virat Kohli is sitting in a position of complete peace and blissfulness. He has accomplished a lot of things, has won tournaments, and has now won the IPL as well. He just wants to go after that one more 50-over World Cup. He can go and play freely now,” R Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“If he comes with an open mindset, he can bat like IPL 2016. The age factor is there. He can definitely go onto repeat it. If he says, ‘Boss, I am just going to let go and have fun.’ Even if he makes 300 runs at a strike rate of 170, that is a job done for RCB,” he added.
Virat Kohli’s record-breaking IPL season in 2016
Virat Kohli took up captaincy for RCB in 2013 and then guided the team to the finals for the first time in 2016. Though the Kohli-led RCB side could not manage to win their maiden title following their defeat against SRH in the final, Virat himself achieved the most terrific season for a cricketer ever in a single edition of any competition.
As a decorated batter, Kohli amassed 973 runs that season in 2016 and shadowed the presence of Chris Gayle, Shane Watson and AB de Villiers on the same side. He also scored a record-smashing four centuries in a single edition. No batter has ever crossed the 900-run mark in the IPL.
Over the last three seasons, Kohli has surpassed the 600-run mark every time. He also finished with the orange cap on several occasions. Last time Kohli amassed 657 runs across 16 matches and played a massive role in RCB’s historic title triumph.
Ravichandran Ashwin picked Kohli to open for India in the CWC 2027
Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin turned into a full-time cricket analyst after retiring from the game internationally and from the IPL as well. Ashwin, in one such discussion, claimed that India would be subjected to different conditions in South Africa and they would need Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the same playing XI.
He had then claimed that to make that happen, Virat Kohli could possibly open for Team India in the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup. He claimed that since Kohli has done that previously in T20Is, why not in ODIs?
However, the thought seemed irrational, as Ashwin had simply removed Shubman Gill, the Indian skipper, from the equation, which doesn’t seem to be happening in the Gambhir era. The 2027 ICC World Cup will be Virat’s final gig with the Indian team.
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