Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Virat Kohli entered the record books in the IPL 2026 match against the Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on Sunday. Kohli became the first batter in the history of the Indian Premier League to amass 5500 runs as an opener for a single franchise. He needed 7 runs to achieve the milestone, and he reached the feat with a six off  Azmatullah Omarzai.

Overall, Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner have also accumulated 5500 IPL runs as an opener, but both cricketers did it while representing multiple franchises in the tournament.

Kohli also crossed the 500-run mark and is third among the list of leading run-getters, with Sai Sudharsan (554) and Shubman Gill (552) occupying the top two spots. Virat has accumulated 1 century and 4 fifties so far.

In 13 matches, he has posted 542 runs at an average of 54.20 and a strike rate of 164.74.

He contributed 58 runs in 37 deliveries, including 4 boundaries and 3 maximums, before Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed him.

Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss in his 100th IPL game as skipper and invited Royal Challengers Bengaluru to bat first. Punjab added Harpreet Brar and Lockie Ferguson to their playing XI.

Jitesh Sharma is leading the defending champions in the absence of regular captain Rajat Patidar, with Suyash Sharma and Romario Shepherd coming in for the important clash.

“We would have bowled first as well, but the wicket looks good and should stay the same for 40 overs. Rajat is doing fine, and we should see him in Hyderabad.

I am with the way the team has performed so far. We have reached the business end of the tournament. The players are giving their best across departments.

“If we win today, we will qualify for the playoffs. Every game is important. A win will impact the standings not for us but for other teams as well. Suyash replaces Rajat and Romario replaces Duffy,” RCB stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma said.

Playing XIs

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma.

Impact options: Rasikh Salam, Jordan Cox, Abhinandan Singh, Swapnil Singh, Kanishk Chouhan

Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer, Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Impact options: Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey