“I Couldn't Crack IPL at First” – Kohli opens up on his Journey to greatness in IPL

Kohli, the face of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), has been a one-franchise player since the inception of the IPL in 2008. With images of the enthralling match between RCB and Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 7, Kohli reminisces about a bygone era where he reflects on his IPL journey from a struggling youngster to the highest run scorer in the history of the IPL.

He has played 255 matches in IPL and has scored an astonishing pre-MI game figure of 8101 runs at an average of 38.76. Now, at 36, he is still the rock of the RCB side, having shown loyalty to the franchise for 18 years. However, his initial years in the tournament were a disappointment. Sharing his thoughts on the show ‘Kohli has been given up’ on RCB first winning the IPL, he mentioned how he could not get used to the format during the first three seasons of the tournament.

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Finding His Groove

Kohli, in a recent Star Sports interview, expressed the difficulty of dealing with IPL mashed into the time-restrictive format: “Achieve this goal I was not able to crack the nut for the first three seasons. I was playing different roles, but from 2010 I started performing a little better. I think my career saw some upward change in that phase and after 2011.” I started playing often at number three, which provided me with more consistency and clarity." Kohli's record against the Mumbai Indians makes for impressive reading. 

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He has scored 855 runs in 32 innings against them, at an average of 30.53 and a strike rate of 126.05. He has five half-centuries against MI, based on a high of a fluent 92 at Wankhede Stadium in 2018. As Kohli prepares for another encounter with the five-time champions, fans will hope to witness such a knock from the RCB great once more.