Legendary Indian cricketer Virat Kohli recently joined the RCB camp at his home ground M. Chinnaswamy Stadium for the upcoming IPL season. RCB will begin their proceedings with their first game against SRH at the same venue.
Royal Challengers Bangalore has been one of the highest-rated teams in the IPL all these seasons. However, after Rajat Patidar was made the captain ahead of the 2025 season, no one gave him much of a chance. Proving everyone wrong, the captain led RCB to their first IPL title, which players like Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli could not do.
RCB largely played as a remarkable unit. They had Phil Salt and Virat Kohli contributing at the top, and Jitesh Sharma and Tim David finished strongly for them. Josh Hazlewood gave them an early lead by taking wickets with the new ball and spinners Krunal Pandya and Suyyash Sharma took control of the middle overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar handled the rest of the innings in the death overs.
If he comes with an open mindset, he can bat like IPL 2016 – Ravichandran Ashwin
Indian batsman Virat Kohli has retired from Tests and T20Is and plays only the 50-over format. Performing in one format reduced his workload significantly and helped him reach his peak once again.
After showing some great form in the home series against South Africa and New Zealand, where he scored three centuries and two half-centuries in 6 innings, the experienced RCB player wants to make every moment count in the final years of his career.
Former teammate and former CSK spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes that if Virat comes into the IPL with an open mindset to enjoy his game, he can recapture the great form of the 2016 edition of the IPL.
“Virat Kohli is sitting in a state of complete peace and joy. He has achieved a lot of things, won tournaments and now the IPL as well. He just wants to go after another 50-over World Cup. He can go now and play freely,” R Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“If he comes with an open mindset, he can bat like he did in IPL 2016. There is an age factor. He can definitely repeat it. If he says, ‘Boss, I will just let go and have fun.’ Even if he scores 300 runs at a strike rate of 170, it’s a job done for RCB.”
Virat Kohli’s record-breaking IPL season in 2016
Virat Kohli took over the captaincy for RCB in 2013 and then took the team to the final for the first time in 2016. Although Kohli-led RCB could not manage to win their maiden title after their defeat against SRH in the final, Virat himself achieved one of the most brilliant seasons for a cricketer in a single edition of any competition.
As a prolific batsman, Kohli scored 973 runs in that season in 2016 and kept up with the likes of Chris Gayle, Shane Watson and AB de Villiers. He also scored a record-breaking four centuries in a single edition. Till now no batsman has been able to cross the 900 run mark in IPL.
In the last three seasons, Kohli has crossed the 600-run mark every time. He also won the Orange Cap on several occasions. Last time Kohli had scored 657 runs in 16 matches and played a big role in RCB’s historic title win.
Ravichandran Ashwin picks Kohli to open for India in CWC 2027
Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin became a full-time cricket analyst after retiring from the international game and also from the IPL. In one such discussion, Ashwin claimed that India will face different conditions in South Africa and they will need Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad in the same playing eleven.
He then claimed that in order to do so, Virat Kohli could possibly open for Team India in the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup. He claimed that since Kohli has done this in T20Is before, why not in ODIs?
However, this idea seemed illogical, as Ashwin had removed Indian captain Shubman Gill from the equation, which does not seem to be happening in the serious era. The 2027 ICC World Cup will be Virat’s last event with the Indian team.
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