The new run machine of world cricket across formats, Virat Kohli, clearly holds a magic wand instead of a bat whenever he is out on the 22 yard strip. A spirited 92-not-out against the defending champs, Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede stadium on Tuesday, saw the right handed Delhi lad bettering Suresh Raina’s 4558 runs to become the leading run scorer in the history of the cash rich IPL.
Donning all-time orange cap, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper now sits atop on the highest scorer list across all seasons. In the process, he also became the first player to cross 5000 runs mark for any franchise. His Indian teammate Suresh Raina has so far smashed 4558 runs off 163 innings he has played which made him a potent force behind Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) continued winning run. Meanwhile, Raina could not play the last match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) owing to calf muscle injury. His scores read 4 and 14 in the first two matches of the tournament.
However, the swashbuckling batsman said getting the orange cap “doesn’t really matter” to him as the team failed to surpass the MI target of 216-6, thanks to Rohit Sharma’s magnificent 52 ball 94. The star Indian batsman achieved the feat in the 9th over of the second innings against Mumbai Indians. It was his 153rd IPL match.
In a strongly worded post-match presentation, Kohli said, “I don’t feel like wearing this (orange cap) right now because it really doesn’t matter. We got off to a great start but we just threw it away, and need to reflect on our dismissals. We knew there would be a little bit of dew, we needed not your 40-45s but 80-85s. In the end it was all about making sure that the run-rate doesn’t take a hit,” he said.
With 201 runs in four innings at an average and strike rate of 67 and 143 respectively, Kohli is also the highest run getter in the ongoing season. He also had a brilliant run last year (2017) when he scored 2500 runs at a staggering average of 68.73 in all formats. In what seems like RCB losing the plot in ongoing league having lost two matches on the trot, the captain seems to be the only in form RCB batsman and a major contributor in the last two games.
With 4 tons and 32 half centuries to his name, Kohli has scored 4619 runs at an average of 38.17 with a strike rate of 130.33 in the league. Rohit Sharma ranks number three in the league with 4,345 runs.