"Forget Cricket"- Dinesh Karthik when asked about Virat Kohli
Published - 28 May 2025, 03:48 PM | Updated - 28 May 2025, 05:12 PM
Virat Kohli played a composed innings of 54 runs in an important chase against Lucknow Super Giants to secure the top 2 spot in the IPL points table. RCB’s batting coach Dinesh Karthik credited Kohli as a ‘genius par excellence’ for his consistent performances in the IPL.
Kohli scored 54 runs off 30 balls gave a solid start to the RCB and laid the platform for the middle order in a record chase of 228 runs.
Dinesh Karthik lauds Virat Kohli’s consistent performance
Virat Kohli is one of the players who have played IPL for 18 years with consistent performance in every season. Karthik praised Kohli for his passion and dedication to the sport and for inspiring every young player in the country.
Kohli scored more than 9000 runs in IPL history, and he is the highest run-getter in IPL history. Kohli also recorded the most runs in an IPL season as he scored 973 runs in the IPL 2016 season.
"Genius par excellence, that's the start, I'll say for Virat Kohli. Across 18 seasons, he already averages, not averages, he's got 9000 runs, which is 500 runs a season. People managed to get that 12 seasons. Hayden has got it a few times more, but it is such a hard ask. But for him to come churn out runs every year, have that motivation, even in warmups, the way he feels," Karthik stated.
Kohli’s passion is unmatchable, and Karthik wants young boys and girls not just to watch his cricket, watch his passion, hard work, and dedication to the sport.
"I was just hitting a few balls to him, the speed at which it comes back in the mid, it tells you the man has got so much passion and intensity with anything he wants to do, and that's such a brilliant attribute for any young boy and girl wanting to play sport, forget cricket, just the passion, the hard work, the dedication, with every minute you spend towards the sport. He is a walking example of that," Karthik added.
The record-breaking Virat Kohli
Kohli completed 9000 runs for RCB this season and became the first player to score 9000 runs for a team in Men’s T20S. No player scored more than 7000 runs for a franchise across the globe.
| Player | Runs | Team |
| Virat Kohli | 9004 | RCB |
| Rohit Sharma | 6060 | MI |
| James Vince | 5934 | Hampshire |
| Suresh Raina | 5528 | CSK |
| MS Dhoni | 5314 | CSK |
Kohli also becomes the first player to record 600+ runs in a season five times in IPL history. Earlier, Kohli was equalling the feat with KL Rahul four times.
Most 600+ runs in an IPL season
Virat Kohli (2013,2016,2023,2024, and 2025)
KL Rahul (2018,2020,2021, and 2022)
Chris Gayle (2011,2012, and 2013)
David Warner (2016,2017, and 2019)
Virat Kohli clutch player in chases
Kohli has been a clutch player for his team. In the important chases, there are very rare chances that without Kohli's contribution, his team would have won the game.
Kohli scored the most runs while chasing in the IPL as he scored 3946 runs in 123 innings at an average of 41.10. No other player has scored more than 3000 runs in chasing and above 40 average at the same time in IPL history.
Read also: Rishabh Pant's batting position change orders came from outside of LSG; BCCI helpless- Report
