NEW DELHI: Virat Kohli will undoubtedly be the point of focus when Royal Challengers Bengaluru step out to bat against the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2025 Qualifier 1 match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh on Thursday.
The 36-year-old Kohli has been part of heartbreaks aplenty in RCB colours over the years and was a part of three IPL finals with the franchise, losing on all three accounts. Since the IPL Playoffs system was introduced, Kohli and RCB have played in two finals in 2011 and 2016, reaching the finals in both editions after winning the Qualifier 1 matches.
However, Kohli and RCB have held a mixed record in the Playoffs stages of the IPL over the years.
Despite announcing his retirement from T20I cricket last year after winning the T20 World Cup in the Americas, Kohli has been in supreme touch this IPL 2025 season. The former India captain has consistently been in the top five for the Orange Cap race and aggregates 602 runs in 13 matches, averaging 60.20 at a 147.91 strike rate.
This is the fifth edition where the league’s highest-ever run-scorer has notched up at least 600 runs, following the 2013 and 2016 seasons behind successive editions in 2023 and 2024.
Kohli has racked up eight fifties this season, his best haul for any IPL edition since debut in 2008, the fifty-plus scores count was only bettered during his record-breaking season in 2016, with four centuries and seven half-centuries. Kohli has been on a superb run away from home too, notching up a fifty in every designated away game in 2025.
However, RCB’s star batter has not been at his belligerent best in the Playoffs stage over the years. In 15 previous IPL Playoffs appearances, Kohli has only scored 341 runs. Kohli averages 26.23 in these games and has a lowly 121.78 strike-rate while posting a fifty in two innings.
Agencies