Credit: BCCI/IPL
Virat Kohli is someone who has scored nearly 1,000 runs, well almost, and that too, in one single edition of the IPL. Back in 2016, when captain, he led the RCB and scored 973 tournament runs. He is also someone who has to his name, north of 9,000 runs for RCB. Let that sink in. When he gets going with the bat, which is usually the case, the grounds erupt with madness and his sheer name can actually fill stadia around the world. For such is the fanfare that Kohli attracts, and deservingly so.
So as comes calling the big mighty IPL 2025 final contest, what can one expect of the king of the IPL, batting demigod Virat Kohli himself? Well, truth be told, the belligerent right hander, a world class act who's earned the respect and adulation of none other than Lara, Sachin, Dravid and Steve Smith and forget not, Sir Viv Richards himself, Kohli's numbers are as inspiring as his batting.
And rather importantly, his batting average seems quite fine at the very ground where tonight he'll hope for a big last tango in the IPL 2025 edition. After all, this is the final. And most importantly, it's Virat Kohli at Ahmedabad stadium that we are talking about.
From just 6 IPL innings played here, Kohli has scored 219 runs at a healthy average of 54.7. But then, what have been some of his top knocks here?
62 vs RR, 2015
Ten full years, hence, a compelte decade has passed on since Virat Kohli's fluent, very charismatic 62 unbeaten runs that came here in a low-scoring contest played by RCB against the Rajasthan Royals.
This was an inning belonging to a time period so far back in time, that it makes one a touch sentimental to recollect the era where RCB had Gayle in their ranks. But just what made it even better perhaps was the fact that the mighty left hander often found in Kohli, a useful opener at the other end.
And proving his sheer usefulness to his beloved RCB franchise, Kohli, then just 26-years of age came mighty good against RR, a bowling line up that featured the likes of Chris Morris, James Faulkner and the brilliant Shane Watson himself.
Asked to chase a modest 131, where only Smith and Rahane from the Rajasthan camp were able to contribute some runs, Virat Kohli and Gayle made lightwork of the light-weight run chase.
Although Gayle just made 20 but got Bangalore off to some sort of a decent start, Kohli was the aggressor: scoring 1 boundary but 3 great sixes. Then came AB and out went Rajasthan Royals of the Ahmedabad stadium.
33 vs RR, Eliminator, 2024
At the face of it, it would seem that how on earth can a score of 33 be a good one or maybe prominent enough to be enlisted in a headline of captivating or important scores but in the context of its value to the team, you'd realise that sometimes, a thirty-odd something too, matters especially in the unpredictable format such as the IPL.
Back in the 2024 season, Virat Kohli, ultimately ended up losing the big eliminator contest agaisnt the Royals from Rajasthan at the Ahmedabad stadium.
On that particular occasion, too many runs were hard to come by and all that his famed RCB camp managed were just 172 runs while batting first.
But 33 of those on a wicket where the ball didn't really come all that well onto the bat meant that Kohli had played his part.
While fluent scorers such as Faf du Plessis and Cameron Green struggled, the then RCB captain making just 17 off 14, Kohli stayed put for as long as (almost) the eighth over of the Bangalore outing and scored 3 gorgeous boundaries along with 1 six.
How runs were hard to come by was established by the fact that during that time, Rajasthan took 19 overs to cp
70 vs GT, 2024
To say that this was a fanastic inning would actually be an understatment of sorts. To say that it was a matchwinning inning too, would be merely stating the facts. But in actually stating the truth and it's that this is one of Kohli's most outstanding innings for the RCB, ever, would be saying it bold and clear.
In the previous IPL season, in 2024, an important contest was played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, wherein the likes of Sai Sudharsan, Shah Rukh Khan and then, David Miller helped their Gujarat stable to reach a mighty good score of 200.
RCB's Siraj, Dayal and even Maxwell, went for plenty of runs that evening. But one man, in particular, as per normal wanted to come right on top of his opponents.
No prizes for guessing that was the King himself: Virat Kohli.
In producing a best score for himself at this particular venue, Kohli just consumed 44 odd deliveries to reach a whirlwind 70 from the very top of the order and in so doing, struck 6 boundaries and 3 sixes.
His batting strike rate of 159 meant that the Titans weren't quite true to their name on that particular date and that, in game number 45 of the 2024 season, it was Kohli who batted like a titan. Although his knock was overshadowed by a fiery hundred by Will Jacks.The end result was that Bangalore stomped home to a win by a huge margin of 9 wickets.
Faf, too, then the captain, played his part and enabled Bangalore with some blitz up the order. Truth be told, Virat Kohli has played a plenty of more sensational knocks in the IPL, but that 70 of his was a stunner.
