May 29, IPL 2025: In IPL 2025, Royal Challengers Bangalore will face Punjab Kings in Qualifier-1 today. This match will be played in Mullanpur from 7.30 pm. In this match, all eyes will be on in-form veteran batsman Virat Kohli, who has scored a mountain of runs so far this season. Kohli is among the select five batsmen who have scored more than 600 runs this season. Now he has a chance to play some more big innings and help the team win the title for the first time.
If his team wins today, it will reach the final directly. Kohli has played in the playoffs and finals with the RCB team many times before, but his team has never won the title. Another thing that makes this equation interesting is that whenever Virat Kohli has scored more than 30 runs in the playoffs, his team has lost. Let’s know how Virat Kohli’s statistics are in the playoffs…
Kohli played 15 matches in the playoffs
Actually, Virat has played 15 matches with RCB in the IPL playoffs. In its 15 innings, he has scored 341 runs. There are only two 50+ scores in this. Now you can call it a coincidence or a coincidence, but whenever he has scored 30 or more runs, his team has lost. This has happened in a total of five playoff matches. These also include the matches in which both the half-centuries were scored. Virat’s RCB has won only five matches out of 15 in the playoffs, while they have faced defeat in 10.
Virat has not been able to cross the double-digit mark six times in the playoffs and this also includes getting out without opening the account. The matches in which Kohli’s team RCB has won in the playoffs include against CSK in 2009, against Mumbai in 2011, against Rajasthan in 2015, against Gujarat Lions in 2016 and against Lucknow in 2022. Hopes pinned on Kohli and Salt
However, this year Kohli would like to leave this coincidence behind and play a big innings for his team and get the team a direct ticket to the final. The team’s hopes are pinned on him and Phil Salt’s opening pair. If they do not score runs from the top, then the middle order will come under pressure and we have seen RCB crumble under pressure many times. Virat Kohli, who has scored 9000+ runs for RCB, will have a lot of burden on him and this time he would like to take his team closer to the trophy. Apart from the most runs in IPL, Kohli also has the most boundaries and centuries-half-centuries. If his bat works, Punjab may have to play Qualifier-2.
Kohli has also played three finals
Kohli has also played three finals. In the 2009 final, only seven runs came off his bat, in the 2011 final, eight runs came off his bat and in 2016, 54 runs came off his bat. Kohli has played in Qualifier-1 twice. In 2011, he played an unbeaten innings of 70 runs in 44 balls against Chennai, while in 2016 he did not open his account against Gujarat Lions. RCB lost the 2011 Qualifier-1 match, while in 2016 RCB won the match against Gujarat.
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