Virat Kohli has shattered a huge MS Dhoni record with his appearance in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Kolkata Knight Riders Indian Premier League 2026 clash at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur, on Wednesday, May 13. Kohli has become the most-capped cricketer in the history of the Indian cash-rich league.
Kohli made his 279th appearance in IPL with the KKR clash in Raipur, going past Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, who had featured in 278 matches each. Both Kohli and Rohit had equalled Dhoni’s record when RCB met Mumbai Indians in Raipur on Sunday, May 10, and it is the RCB icon who broke Dhoni’s record first.ย
Players to play in most IPL matches:
1 – Virat Kohli: 279 matches
2 – MS Dhoni: 278 matches
3 – Rohit Sharma: 278 matches
4 – Ravindra Jadeja: 265 matches
5 – Dinesh Karthik: 257 matches
Kohli inching towards 300 IPL matches
Meanwhile, Kohli is nearing the record of becoming the first player to play in 300 IPL matches. He is currently 21 games away from the milestone. RCB will be playing in two more matches this season after the KKR game, which will take Kohli’s tally to 281. He can play in three more matches this season if his team plays all three of the four knockouts, which will make him sit at 284 by the end of the season. Kohli would be in a prime position to touch the 300-match mark in the next season.
RCB opt to bowl
Coming to the match, RCB opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Captain Rajat Patidar confirmed one change to the team that defeated MI by two wickets. “Obviously, we’ll bowl first. I think it’s a similar wicket that we played last match, so I think it will behave in the same way. And it should be pretty good also, hard surface, but we’ll try to keep them under pressure while chasing,” Patidar said at the toss.
“(The colour of the surface looks a little dark.) I don’t think so. As I feel, both the wickets are pretty much the same, and there must be a variable bounce, but let’s see how it goes. I think it was a tight match (vs MI), but I think it was a good game for us to be in the game, and everyone has a lot of confidence after the way we played the last game.ย
“It was a tight game, but everyone is looking good and looking forward for it. Every game is important. You know, we are not looking at the table, but we are just focusing more on playing a good cricket. Venky (Iyer) comes in place of Shepi (Shepherd).”
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