Why IPL 2026 could unleash Virat Kohli’s most dangerous version yet

New Delhi: Virat Kohli Is the one with the highest run score? intense pulsed light History, and his consistency over the years make him one of the greatest players the tournament has ever seen. After years of flukes, Kohli finally fulfilled his long-held dream of leading Royal Challengers Bangalore to lift the IPL trophy in 2025, ending an 18-year wait.Kohli has won major ICC titles, ICC U19 World Cup, ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC T20 World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy and he also completed his trophy cabinet with the IPL title last year. Now, heading into IPL 2026, he enters the season with a rare sense of freedom.He may have nothing left to prove as a batsman or as an RCB fan. But now, without the pressure of expectations, he can simply go out and play his natural game, just like he has done in the past. In 2021, when Kohli gave up the RCB captaincy, he said in RCB’s podcast diary.

“I captained India for 7-8 years and RCB for 9 years. Every game, I was expected to be the batsman. I never felt that the focus was taken away from me. If it wasn’t the captaincy, it was my batting. I faced it 24 hours a day. It ended up being very tough and it was too much to take.”Clearly his thought process at the time was not that of a man who had resigned himself to his fate, but rather one who still aspired to bring home trophies for his team, albeit not as captain. Interestingly, Kohli has turned into a different beast since the 2021 season, scoring 341 (2022), 639 (2023), 741 (2024) and 657 (2025) in the subsequent four seasons. Kohli was out of form and struggled with runs during the COVID-19 pandemic, but he still managed to lead the team to back-to-back playoffs in 2020 and 2021. After he left the captaincy, he was given the mental freedom to simply step up, bat and express himself.Kohli has admitted time and time again that winning the title means a lot to him and having the IPL trophy in his cabinet is the reason why he could be the most dangerous version of this edition.“Given the history of close calls and the near moments in the past where we’ve made it to the final but couldn’t win, I think that gives us extra motivation to keep things tight. Because the league has become more competitive, we have to play really good cricket to get to the final. This is not a fluke or an accident. We beat some very good teams, we are an amazing team and we have earned the right to be here today,” Virat said in a video shared by RCB recently, looking back on their journey to the title.Kohli’s best IPL season came in 2016, when he emerged as one of the most dangerous batsmen in IPL history. He ended the season with a record-breaking 973 runs in 16 innings, including four centuries. That year belonged to Kohli as he dominated the bowlers across all surfaces. Notably, Kohli has won the Orange Cap twice, in 2016 (973) and 2024 (741).After winning the trophy in 2025, when Kohli returned to international duty against South Africa, he scored two consecutive ODI hundreds. This signaled to fans that his dominant days were back. In December, his former teammates Ravichandran Ashwin IPL teams have also been warned about Kohli’s form, which could cause trouble for other teams:Ashwin said on his YouTube channel: “I just feel that all teams should be really concerned about Virat having an open mind.”

Kohli as RCB captain

After Daniel Vettori retired in 2013, Kohli took over as RCB’s full-time captain, although he had already led the team as interim captain on several occasions in 2011 and 2012 in Vettori’s absence. Kohli led RCB in 143 games, registering 66 wins, 70 losses, 3 draws and 4 no results. His most notable captaincy achievement came in IPL 2016 when he led RCB to the final although they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad.After resigning as captain in 2021, he has brought a different impact to the team as an experienced batsman who has played the role of stabilizing the innings for the past 4-5 seasons. Now, with the title on the line, IPL 2026 may see a different Kohli who is still hungry but free to play without the pressure of expectations.