New Delhi [India], April 27 : Legendary Indian and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli is just 11 runs away from becoming the first player to reach 9,000 Indian Premier League (IPL) runs ahead of his side's clash against Delhi Capitals at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
A DC side depleted on morale and perhaps, the personnel after a mammoth 265 run-chase by Punjab Kings (PBKS), which witnessed pacer Lungi Ngidi facing a head injury, will be searching for their fourth win of the season against RCB, who are upbeat following a win over Gujarat Titans (GT).
In 274 matches and 266 innings, Virat has made 8,989 runs at an average of 39.95 and a strike rate of 133.76, with eight centuries and 66 fifties and a best score of 113*. At the time of writing, Virat is sixth in the Orange Cap race, having made 328 runs in seven matches at an average of 54.66 and a strike rate of 162.18, including three fifties and a best score of 81.
Virat has been a model of consistency while chasing totals. Since the 2023 season, which marked his return to form after a slump in 2022, Virat has fallen for single digit just once in 21 innings while chasing, having made 1,087 runs at an average of 72.46 and a strike rate of 155.5, including a century and 11 fifties.
14 of these innings have ended in successful run-chases, with 881 runs at an average of 110.12 and a strike rate of 154.02, including a century and 10 fifties. Since 2023, RCB has a win percentage of 91.67 whenever Virat scores a fifty, while it dips down to 33.33 when he does not, as per a Cricbuzz stat. Despite the growing reliability in the batting line-up with a powerplay hitter like Phil Salt, an Indian core of skipper Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma and Krunal Pandya and finishers like Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Virat, remains the 'King' of chases and the carrier of his team's hopes.
Also, Virat, who has delivered three back-to-back 600+ run seasons in the IPL since 2023 and looks headed for a fourth one, is just 72 runs away from reaching 400 runs during a single IPL season for 11th time, a record-extending number.
Squads:

Delhi Capitals Squad: Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul(w), Nitish Rana, David Miller, Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, Kuldeep Yadav, T Natarajan, Mukesh Kumar, Auqib Nabi Dar, Vipraj Nigam, Lungi Ngidi, Ashutosh Sharma, Dushmantha Chameera, Karun Nair, Mitchell Starc, Kyle Jamieson, Rehan Ahmed, Prithvi Shaw, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Tripurana Vijay, Abishek Porel, Sahil Parakh, Madhav Tiwari

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma, Rasikh Salam Dar, Jordan Cox, Mangesh Yadav, Vicky Ostwal, Venkatesh Iyer, Philip Salt, Jacob Duffy, Nuwan Thushara, Abhinandan Singh, Swapnil Singh, Vihaan Malhotra, Kanishk Chouhan, Satvik Deswal.