IPL 2021: Virat Kohli Becomes First Ever Cricketer To Play 200 Matches For One Franchise
Published - 20 Sep 2021, 09:49 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:55 AM
On Monday, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli became the first-ever player to feature in 200 matches for a single franchise as he took the field against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
The Delhi-born Virat Kohli has been at RCB since the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008 and remains the only player in the competition to play all seasons for the same franchise. Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni has played 182 games in the yellow jersey; he was part of the Rising Pune Supergiant side for a couple of seasons when CSK were banned.
He has scored 6076 runs at an average of 37.98 while striking at 130.41 in 199 IPL matches. The right-hander has also struck 5 IPL tons, four of them coming in his incredible 2016 season. Also, ahead of the encounter versus KKR, he will be starting with 71 runs short of the 10000-run landmark in T20 cricket.
Anytime should he get it, be it against KKR or during later matches, he will be the first Indian batsman to reach the 10000-run milestone in the shortest format.
Currently, Virat Kohli has scored 9929 T20 runs while representing India, Indians, RCB, Delhi (in domestic cricket), at an average of 41.71 and striking at 133.95. Apart from the 5 IPL centuries, he has raised 72 half-centuries.
Overall, he is the fifth-highest run-getter in T20 cricket, behind Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Shoaib Malik, and David Warner. Amongst Indians, Mumbai Indians captain and India vice-captain, Rohit Sharma, is behind Virat Kohli with 9315 runs.
Virat Kohli to step down as RCB captain after IPL 2021
Virat Kohli, on Sunday, announced that he will be stepping down from the role of RCB captain after the conclusion of IPL 2021. This news comes in a few days after he had announced he would be giving up India’s T20I captaincy at the end of the T20 World Cup in November.
“I spoke to the management this evening, something that was on my mind for a while, as I recently announced stepping down from [India] T20 captaincy as well to manage my workload, which has been immense over the last so many years,” he said in a video uploaded by the franchise.
RCB are currently sitting at the third position in the points table with 5 wins and 2 losses from the first half of the season.
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