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Virat Kohli finished IPL 2026 with a strike-rate of 165.85 – the highest he has managed since that mad 2016 season of 973 runs. Only six men who passed 500 runs this year scored quicker. The raw numbers say he has sped up. The coaches and former pros who have watched him every week think it is more about what is going on in his head – and who is waiting to bat after him.
“The thing that stands out for me about Kohli this year is that he’s batting and having fun,” Tom Moody said on the TimeOut show after Kohli’s unbeaten 75 (42) guided Royal Challengers Bengaluru to back-to-back titles. “I think in previous years, he’s batting as a business. And he is managing that business. Now, this season, I just see someone just letting everything go and having fun, and because of his brilliance and class that’s just increasing everything: the boundaries, his strike rate – it’s all there because he’s got the complete game.” A pause, then the headline line: “He’s let himself go and he’s having fun, and everyone’s benefiting – from RCB to the fans, to the game.”
Varun Aaron, now Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach, thinks the answer sits lower down the order. “There’s a reason he’s having more fun because he has a middle order that he can rely on,” he pointed out. For a decade RCB were top-heavy: Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Kohli, then a long drop. This version features Rajat Patidar, Devdutt Padikkal, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, even Phil Salt or Venkatesh Iyer floating about. The safety net is obvious.
“Now he knows that even if he gets out [there are others],” Aaron said. “We’ve all spoken about his intent in the powerplay, but his false-shot percentage is also quite high. It’s above 30% [24.82%; it has been higher only in two out of the last ten seasons]. So, as an opposition, you know he’s also going to give you a chance. But Virat Kohli is having fun for sure, [and] that’s because he trusts his middle order. And most of the big players, if they have batsmen behind them, they just know they can unleash their best on the bowling attack.”
The numbers back the eye test. In the first six overs – the “powerplay”, when only two fielders can stay outside the circle – Kohli tried to find the rope 47% of the time this season, 46% across all overs. That is roughly every second ball and well above his own previous benchmarks. He averages 41 in that phase, scoring at 10.1 runs an over. Crucially, the risk has not blown up his stumps; his dismissal rate has nudged up by less than one per cent.
Moody, never shy of a straight line, reckons the criticism of Kohli’s T20 tempo from a couple of years ago looks dated now. “He is now playing for fun,” Moody says, “and the numbers make the argument for him.”
Kohli himself has offered a simpler explanation. Speaking after RCB’s final league match, he said the modern T20 game demands “the demands of today’s modern game, where you need to get those 20-30 extra runs”. The old toolkit stays – placement through cover, those running twos that sap bowlers – but he has bolted on power. Ambati Rayudu calls it “high efficiency,” a neat phrase that fits.
Back-to-back titles, 741 runs, a strike-rate north of 165, and a boundary attempt nearly every other ball. The story is not complicated: freedom, a deeper batting card, and a batter who looks like he has remembered why he started playing in the first place. It probably won’t last for ever – nothing in T20 does – but while it does, the rest of us can simply watch.
