Virat Kohli had a strike rate of 165.85 in
IPL 2026.
Not quite Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, but only six batters who scored upwards of 500 runs this season had a higher strike rate than him. It has been a different Kohli over the past two IPL seasons, and while
Tom Moody puts it down to Kohli “having fun”,
Varun Aaron thinks it’s mainly got to do with the stronger middle order
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have assembled – “there’s a reason he’s having more fun because he has a middle order that he can rely on” – which has freed Kohli up.
Back in 2016, when he had his
record-breaking season of 973 runs, Kohli scored his runs at a strike rate of 152.03. That’s the only time before IPL 2026 that his strike rate for a season had gone past 150 – past 144.81, in fact.
Part of the change has been about his
attacking instinct. In IPL 2026, he has attempted to hit a boundary against 47% of the balls he has faced in the powerplay and 46% overall – that’s almost every second ball.
“The thing that stands out for me about Kohli this year is that he’s batting and having fun,” Moody, Lucknow Super Giants’ global director of cricket, said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show after Kohli hit an unbeaten 75 in 42 balls to take
RCB to their second title in as many years. “I think in previous years, he’s batting as a business. And he is managing that business. Now, this season, I just see someone just letting everything go and having fun, and because of his brilliance and class that’s just increasing everything: the boundaries, his strike rate – it’s all there because he’s got the complete game.
“He’s let himself go and he’s having fun, and everyone’s benefiting – from RCB to the fans, to the game.”
It’s not just what’s changed in Kohli but what’s changed in the RCB line-up, Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach Aaron argued. For the longest time, RCB had been top-heavy with Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Kohli. But now, with
Rajat Patidar and
Devdutt Padikkal in the upper-middle order,
Tim David and
Krunal Pandya in the middle order, and the likes of
Phil Salt and
Venkatesh Iyer chipping in with impactful performances, Kohli has less of a burden.
“Now he knows that even if he gets out [there are others],” Aaron said. “We’ve all spoken about his intent in the powerplay, but his false-shot percentage is also quite high. It’s above 30% [24.82%; it has been higher only in two out of the last ten seasons]. So, as an opposition, you know he’s also going to give you a chance. But Virat Kohli is having fun for sure, [and] that’s because he trusts his middle order. And most of the big players, if they have batsmen behind them, they just know they can unleash their best on the bowling attack.”
Kohli has spoken about the change too, putting it down to “the demands of today’s modern game, where you need to get those 20-30 extra runs”. What he has done is managed to keep in place all his good qualities from previous years and added “high efficiency,” as
Ambati Rayudu put it.
“If you look at his previous years, whenever he hit a boundary, on the follow-up delivery his intent was not as great as what we are seeing this year or the last year,” Rayudu said. “He has formed a completely new instinct in terms of his T20 batting. He doesn’t want to really plan too far ahead. He’s looking at the next delivery, the next delivery, and how we can maximise it, and that’s quite extraordinary for a guy who always wanted to bat deep or bat long.”
Elaborating on his point about Kohli being less burdened in this new RCB set-up, Moody said, “The impressive thing with him is he’s evolved as the game has evolved and the IPL has evolved – with the impact player – and his strike rate has climbed. There was periods where he was criticised for playing a more of a reserved type of brand. There was also criticism around his ability to play spin outside of the powerplay. He has proved the critics wrong in both of those counts.
“He’s just grown and grown and grown. He’s now just playing it for fun. You could see the joy in what he does out there – there’s less tension around what he just goes out there, and it’s just a day at the office.”
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