18 calling 18: Could this be the year for Virat Kohli and RCB?
A winner of ICC World Cups in both formats, the U-19 World Cup, Champions Trophy and the No 1 Test mace,
has checked almost every major cricket trophy box except one — the Indian Premier League.
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He has come agonizingly close on three occasions in the past when his team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, failed to surmount the final hurdle.
Those defeats have hurt.
The 36-year-old will have another opportunity to add what has become an elusive trophy to his cabinet. It might be his best chance yet, given the way RCB have played this season. After several false dawns, they have, finally, looked like a champion team.
, who recently retired from Test cricket, has been Royal Challengers Bengaluru's driving force for years, joining the franchise in the inaugural year — a time when his career was still more of a promise and less of an accomplishment. He now is their mainstay, the skipper without the captain's armband, the man for whom fans queue up several hours in advance just to catch a glimpse.
'He looks very focused,' said AB de Villiers, Kohli's former teammate at RCB and South African stalwart.
'The job's not done yet, but I have no doubt he will play a big hand.'
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It's been a long IPL road for Kohli with RCB. He led the Bengalurubased franchise from 2013 to 2021, during which their best performance was the runner-up finish in 2016. In previous years, he had superstars like Anil Kumble, Daniel Vettori, Chirs Gayle, De Villiers and Faf du Plessis and could rely on their wealth of experience, but this year has perhaps been the most challenging since he is RCB's most seasoned player.
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Yet, he has, unofficially, marshalled the team's resources admirably, allowing Rajat Patidar to settle down as captain and guiding Jitesh Sharma as stand-in skipper.
Poll
Will this be Kohli's year to finally win the IPL title with RCB?
Yes, it's his best chance yet No, they will fall short again
Teaming up mostly with Phil Salt and in his absence Jacob Bethell, Kohli has given RCB starts which have proved game-changing on more than one occasion this season.
While players half his age are going slam bang, Kohli has redefined the art of mixing elegance with aggression, scoring 614 runs in 14 matches thus far at a healthy strike rate of 146.63.'
While an unbeaten 73, against Punjab Kings in a league fixture remains his best so far, the seven other half centuries he has scored have added weight to RCB's campaign.
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In a season where there have been injuries to key players like Josh Hazlewood and Devdutt Padikkal, Kohli has helped the team weather the storm and stay focused. Kohli, who with 714 runs was the highest run getter last season, may have entered the twilight of his IPL career, but the fire to succeed burns as brightly as it did in 2008.
It is probably that fire which could spur RCB to their maiden title triumph on Tuesday night
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