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Virat Kohli has added another father in his well-decorated Indian Premier League (IPL) career for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). As soon as the batter was named in the playing eleven against the Mumbai Indians tonight, the batting maestro achieved the rare milestone.
On this special occasion, the franchise also shared a special post for their marquee batter. According to the stats, the match number 54 of the ongoing IPL 2026 season is the 278th match for Virat Kohli with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in his iconic jersey number 18.
Virat Kohli achieved a rare record before the first ball of the RCB vs MI IPL 2026 match
Meanwhile, Phil Salt is also available for the match against the Mumbai Indians because of the injury. In place of Salt, Jacob Bethell remains in the team line-up along with Virat Kohli. On the other side, Hardik Pandya is not playing for the Mumbai Indians tonight. In place of Pandya, it is Suryakumar Yadav who is leading the team in Blue.
2️⃣7️⃣8️⃣* 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒. 🐐
1️⃣ 𝐉𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐘. ❤️🔥
1️⃣ 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆. 👑Every one of those 278 caps worn with unmatched passion, pride, and loyalty. 😮💨🔥
This is a love story written forever in Red, Blue, and Gold. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/kL7ErcLNVo
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 10, 2026
RCB is the favorite to win the match vs MI
RCB, the defending champion this season, is near to confirming their spot in the play-offs this season too. A win against the Mumbai Indians will help them to take another step closer to the round of four.
Ahead of the match, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) was considered the favorite to win tonight’s game because of the recent performances of both sides. The players of the RCB, too, are charged up enough to hammer the Mumbai Indians at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Raipur.
A hard task awaits Virat Kohli
The conditions are new for both MI and RCB. At the toss, the RCB skipper Rajat Patidar informed that the surface was looking good and pretty hard. But, as the conditions are not familiar to them, Patidar chose to bowl first.
“We will bowl first. Pretty obvious, the surface is good and pretty hard. But we will try to get them as early as possible and go for the chase. Conditions are not unfamiliar, to be honest. It’s a new stadium, good supporters, and a great outfield, I would say, and everyone is looking forward to the game. We are going with the same team,” Rajat Patidar said at the toss.
‘Yes, we had a couple of losses, but it’s important to be in the present and play on your strengths. So we will be focusing more on ourselves rather than on other teams. (Areas to be better at today) I don’t think that there are one or two particular areas. Wherever it is. If we play in the power play or if we play after the power play, we will look to do whatever best we can do,” he added.
It will be interesting to see how Virat Kohli faced the MI bowlers in the second innings as he will have to open the innings for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Read More: RCB vs MI Impact Players Today: Toss Report, Playing XIs, Latest Updates IPL 2026 Match 54
