The schedule of IPL 2026 has not been announced yet, but all the teams have started preparations for the upcoming season. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Cricket Director Mo Bobat has given a big statement on Virat Kohli. RCB Director of Cricket Mo Bobat expressed surprise at Virat Kohli’s continued association with the team for 18 years and said that the superstar cricketer has dedicated the best part of his youth and career to this IPL franchise, hence the ‘think tank’ should prepare a championship winning team for him.
RCB will enter the upcoming IPL as the defending champions. Last season, the team won its first IPL title after a long wait of 18 years. Speaking on ‘RCB Podcast’ on Virat Kohli’s reputation in the franchise, Bobat said, “Virat Kohli will always be the ‘icon’ and hero of this team. That will never change and he deserves it. His track record is incredible. I remember watching his stats at one time last season when he had reached almost 9,000 runs and that too after wearing the jersey of only one team for 18 years. That means around 500 runs every season.”
Bobat further said, “It is really unbelievable. Some players become happy with a season of 500 runs for seven years. He has been scoring an average of 500 runs every season for 18 years. It is really surprising. It cannot be ignored.”
Kohli has been a pillar of RCB since 2008 and is the IPL’s leading run-scorer with over 9,000 runs (including eight centuries) for the same team. His best performance was in 2016, when he set a record by scoring 973 runs in a single season. Virat was also the captain of RCB for years. However, RCB won its first IPL title last year under the captaincy of Rajat Patidar.
