Virat Kohli etched his name in the Indian Premier League (IPL) record books once again by becoming the first batter to complete 9,000 runs in the tournament. The milestone was achieved during Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) match against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Monday.
Kohli entered the game needing just 11 runs to reach the landmark. He got there with a single on the last ball of the sixth over off Axar Patel. The RCB stalwart is the leading run-scorer in IPL history and now stands alone as the first player to touch the 9,000-run mark.
Before this match, Kohli had amassed 8,989 runs in 274 matches and 266 innings at an average of 39.95 and a strike rate of 133.76, with eight centuries and 66 half-centuries. His highest IPL score remains an unbeaten 113.
This season, Kohli has been one of RCB's most consistent performers. Prior to the Delhi Capitals game, he was sixth in the Orange Cap standings with 328 runs in seven matches at an average of 54.66 and a strike rate of 162.18, including three fifties and a best of 81.
Kohli has also been RCB's most dependable batter while chasing targets. Since the 2023 IPL season, he has fallen for single digits only once in 21 chases, scoring 1,087 runs at an average of 72.46 and a strike rate of 155.5, with one century and 11 fifties. He has also scored more than 600 runs in each of the last three IPL seasons since 2023 and looks set for a fourth straight 600-plus campaign.
Earlier in the match, RCB bowled out Delhi Capitals for 75, the lowest score of this season. Opting to bowl first, the pace duo of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/5) and Josh Hazlewood (4/12) shared seven wickets, while Rasikh Salam Dar (1/21) and Suyash Sharma (1/7) also contributed. For DC, Abishek Porel (30), David Miller (19), and Kyle Jamieson (12) provided some respectability to the total after the team was reduced to 8 for 6 in the fourth over.
