The learning doesn’t stop for Virat Kohli. Not after 19 IPL seasons, and not even after a title in 2025. The game has moved on significantly in just a year, and this time, Kohli moved with it.
In IPL 2026, Kohli synced his batting fundamentals with the frenzied striking rhythm his younger peers have embraced.
Kohli’s shot-making repertoire may not match up to the flash of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Abhishek Sharma. No matter. In RCB’s successful title defence in Ahmedabad on Sunday, he produced an unbeaten 75, sealing the win over Gujarat Titans with a six. He closed the season with 675 runs — a fourth successive 600-plus season in the Impact Player era.
It isn’t chart-topping, but 2026 will go down as the season when Kohli adopted the unrelenting code of T20 cricket.
| Most Powerplay runs in IPL 2026 | |||||||
| Player | I | R | Avg | SR | 4s | 6s | Dots |
| Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | 16 | 521 | 74.43 | 233.63 | 48 | 46 | 82 |
| Abhishek Sharma | 15 | 369 | 52.71 | 214.53 | 36 | 29 | 61 |
| Virat Kohli | 16 | 360 | 51.43 | 174.76 | 47 | 11 | 58 |
| Sai Sudharsan | 17 | 347 | 43.38 | 142.8 | 50 | 9 | 104 |
| Travis Head | 15 | 337 | 37.44 | 170.2 | 44 | 17 | 86 |