Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) registered an important win against Delhi Capitals in their home ground, defeating them by 6 wickets in IPL 2025. This victory also helped RCB set a strong record — they have successfully chased targets in all four matches this season, and star batsman Virat Kohli has scored a half-century in each of them.
Against Delhi, Kohli scored 51 runs off 47 balls. Though it helped RCB win, many fans criticized Kohli for playing a slow innings. Facing the criticism, Kohli gave a strong reply after the match, explaining his reasons for playing carefully.
Virat Kohli Explains Why His Fifty Was Slow
After the match, Kohli clearly said that chasing a target on Delhi’s pitch was not easy at all. The pitch was slow and difficult for stroke-making, and RCB had lost three quick wickets early in the innings. Kohli stressed that the team needed a strong partnership to stay alive in the game.
Speaking about his slow batting, Kohli said, “It was important to stay at the crease. I played according to the situation. I focused on keeping the singles and doubles going. Boundaries were also coming in between, so the scoring rate was under control.”
He added that understanding the match situation is very important — looking at the scoreboard, studying the bowlers, and knowing when to take risks or when to build the innings.
Partnership With Krunal Pandya Turned the Game
Kohli built a crucial partnership of 119 runs with Krunal Pandya, which brought RCB back into the match. Krunal also played a brilliant knock, scoring an unbeaten 73 runs in 47 balls, hitting 5 fours and 4 sixes.
Praising the partnership, Kohli said, “When you lose early wickets, you must focus on building partnerships. People forget the importance of rotating the strike and taking the innings deep, especially on tough pitches. That’s what we did.”
Kohli also mentioned that many people nowadays focus only on quick scoring but forget that smart batting according to the situation wins matches in T20 cricket too.
Kohli’s Record-Breaking Performance in IPL 2025
Even after facing criticism, Kohli’s numbers in IPL 2025 speak for themselves. In the four matches where RCB chased the target successfully, Kohli scored a total of 245 runs without getting out in three of them. His average while chasing this season is a perfect 245.
Against Delhi Capitals, for the first time this season while chasing, Kohli got out, but his contribution had already made the winning easy for RCB.
Overall, in IPL 2025 so far, Kohli has scored 443 runs in 10 matches, continuing his form as one of the top batsmen of the tournament.
Virat Kohli Creates a New T20 Record Against Delhi Capitals
In the match against Delhi, Kohli also created a historic T20 record. He has now scored the most runs by any player against a single team in T20 cricket history.
Kohli has scored a total of 1,154 runs against Delhi Capitals in his T20 career, making him the leading run-scorer against any one team. Not only is this an IPL record, but it also stands as a record across all T20 leagues.
Another special achievement added to Kohli’s name is that he became only the second player in IPL history to score 50 or more runs against a single team 11 times. The first player to do so was David Warner, who has scored 50+ runs against Punjab Kings multiple times.
Sources: PTI, TV9 Hindi