1 week Ago By Mid-day
Former India captain and Royal Challengers Bengaluru stalwart, Virat Kohli, underlined the profound impact the IPL 2025 has had on refining his T20 game. Elaborating on the mental and competitive complexities of the tournament, Kohli described the IPL as far more dynamic than traditional bilateral series.The 36-year-old pointed to the constantly fluctuating points table as a unique pressure point, whether it`s about maintaining a top spot, recovering from a slump, or pushing for a playoff berth.
"IPL challenges you in a very unique way because of how the tournament is structured. It`s not like a short bilateral series; it spans several weeks, and your position on the points table keeps shifting. That constantly changing scenario brings different kinds of pressure.
When you are at the top, there`s the pressure to maintain that lead. If you`re near the bottom, you need extra motivation to bounce back. And if you`re somewhere in the middle, where you need to win, say, three out of five games, even a single loss can suddenly add a lot of pressure.
This dynamic nature of the tournament pushes you mentally and competitively in various ways other formats don`t. It`s also driven me to improve and evolve my T20 skill set constantly," Kohli said, speaking on `18 Calling 18` on JioHotstar.Kohli`s stats in IPL 2025Kohli has amassed 164 runs across four matches, including two fluent half-centuries.
RCB, too, have enjoyed a strong start, winning three out of their first four games. The team broke their 17-year winless streak in Chennai with a memorable win against Chennai Super Kings and followed it up with their first win at the Wankhede Stadium over Mumbai Indians in a decade.Kohli also achieved a significant personal milestone this season by becoming only the fifth cricketer to cross the 13,000-run mark in T20s.
He continues to sit at the top among Indian batters in terms of T20 centuries, having notched up nine in total, eight of which have come in the IPL.Notably, he crossed the 10,000-run threshold during the 2021 season, achieving the feat in 299 innings, making him the third-fastest to do so behind Babar Azam and Chris Gayle. Of his total T20 runs, over 8,000 have been scored in the IPL, cementing his legacy as one of the tournament’s all-time greats.
One of the highlights of the current season was one of Kohli’s fastest fifties, scored in dominant fashion against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede. Despite RCB having never lifted the IPL trophy, the 2025 squad is being hailed as possibly their most balanced and formidable yet.(With ANI inputs).
