Courtesy: RCB/IPL
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) legend Virat Kohli has divulged that former South Africa wicket-keeper batter Mark Boucher had an impact on him during his early years of the Indian Premier League (IPL). From 2008 to 2010, Boucher played alongside Kohli for RCB in the cash-rich league. Kohli said his conversations with the former Protea stumper befuddled him. Ahead of RCB’s important game against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on May 3, the star player was seen speaking on X, for RCB podcast’s upcoming episode, which will be released soon.
Discussing his old chat with Boucher, who called him to attend a gold match, Kohli remarked, "Out of all players I played with initially, Boucher had the biggest impact on me. He figured out what my weaknesses could be, If I wanted to go to the next level, this is what I need to do, without me asking him anything. He told me that 'when I come to commentate in India three-four years from now and I do not see you playing for India, you would do a disservice to yourself. So he really stunned me with the conversations he had with me."
Watch the video here:
Virat Kohli will be expected to shine with bat against CSK
RCB will want Kohli to display his batting mettle against CSK on May 2. This year, the 36-year-old has looked stunning with his bat, accumulating 443 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 138.87. With these numbers, he is the second on the chart of batters with most runs in IPL 2025.
In his last five innings, the veteran samshed four half-centuries. Against CSK, Kohli is the highest run-getter with 1084 runs in 33 innings of 34 games. He achieved the milestone in this tournament, when RCB and CSK contested against each other in Chennai on March 28. The RCB stalwart surpassed Shikhar Dhawan’s record of 1057 runs in 29 games against the Yellow Army.
