Mumbai: On a day when Jasprit Bumrah returned to competitive cricket after three months, Virat Kohli scaled another peak in his illustrious career.
The occasion was a marquee IPL 2025 clash at the Wankhede Stadium – struggling Mumbai Indians (MI) versus high-flying Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
Asked to bat first after home team captain Hardik Pandya won the toss, RCB overcame the second-ball loss of Phil Salt thanks to a Kohli special. The former Team India and RCB captain smashed 67 off 42 balls, with the help of 8 fours and 2 sixes.
En route, he reached 13,000 runs in T20 cricket – the first Indian and the fifth batter overall to do so.
Kohli smashed Trent Boult to the boundary in the third over of RCB’s innings to bring up the coveted milestone in his 386th innings.
He thus became the second-fastest man in the history of T20 cricket to cross 13,000 runs in the game’s shortest format, after Chris Gayle.
In the overall T20 charts, Kohli is now No. 5 – behind Gayle, Alex Hales, Shoaib Malik and Kieron Pollard.
Kohli’s knock, skipper Rajat Patidar’s 64 off 32 and Jitesh Sharma’s 40 not out off 19 helped RCB post an impressive 221/5 in 20 overs.
All Mumbai bowlers, except Bumrah, leaked big runs at the Wankhede on Monday evening. The comeback man, who last played in the final Test against Australia at Sydney in early January, conceded just 29 runs in his 4 overs.
FASTEST BATTERS TO SCORE 13,000 RUNS IN T20s
* Chris Gayle (West Indies) – 381 innings
* Virat Kohli (India) – 386 innings
* Alex Hales (England) – 474 innings
* Shoaib Malik (Pakistan) – 487 innings
* Kieron Pollard (West Indies) – 594 innings.
MOST RUNS IN T20s
1. Chris Gayle (West Indies) — 14,562 runs in 463 matches
2. Alex Hales (England) — 13,610 runs in 494 matches
3. Shoaib Malik (Pakistan) — 13,557 in 555 matches
4. Kieron Pollard (West Indies) — 13,537 runs in 695 matches
5. Virat Kohli (India) — 13,050 runs in 403 matches.
