April 15, 2023
In yet another record, Indian star-cricketer and Royal Challengers Banglore's (RCB) Virat Kohli secured a place in history as the first Indian Premier League (IPL) batter to score 2,500 runs at a single venue.
Kholi unlocked his achievement as he made 11 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium against Delhi Capitals.
The right-hand batter also holds the record of scoring the highest number of runs in a season — 973 runs in the IPL 2016 season. Virat Kohli has five centuries and 46 half-centuries on his name with 113 as his best in IPL.
The 34-year-old is now hoping to cross the 7,000-run mark in the IPL. Given his performance, it will be no surprise that he will achieve that milestone too sometime this season.
The top-order-batter had his worst IPL in 2022 when he was able to score only 341 runs at an average of 22.73 in 16 matches. During his last summer, Kholi scored one of his slowest half-centuries during IPL.
Nevertheless, Kholi made a comeback after his T20I century came when India was playing against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup of 2022. He said farewell to 2022 by securing another century to his name while playing against Bangladesh. Whereas, he welcomed 2023 by making two hundred in a three-day ODI match series against Sri Lanka.
Moreover, at the Test front, he ended a long pause of centuries by scoring 186 against Australia in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad.
At the Chinnaswamy Stadium against Mumbai Indians Kohli performed very well in the season opener for RCB scoring 82 on 49 balls and chasing 172. While on the crease he added 148 with an opening partner and captain Faf du Plessis.
At Eden Gardens, however, RCB suffered a setback in which Kholi was only able to make 21 runs on 18 balls, failing to reach the target of 205 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
In Bengaluru, the star cricketer once again performed with great energy and made the second half-century of the tournament, just after he inked his name in the books of cricket history.
Like other IPL teams, RCB is also playing on its home ground. Back in 2020 and 2021, the IPL tournament was shifted from India to UAE due to the deadly COVID.
Last year, no IPL team had the advantage of playing on the home grounds.