Virat Kohli with Rajat Patidar (Source:@TrendVirat/X.com)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru is one of the most high-profile franchises in IPL and one of the main reasons for it is the presence of Virat Kohli. He has been the part of franchise from the inaugural edition and has been the poster boy of RCB over the years.
In the last season too, Virat Kohli displayed his class and became the Orange Cap holder. He has been a pillar of RCB's batting line-up over the years, but his form off-late has not been in great, and the pressure of scoring at a high strike-rate might affect his runs tally.
There are plenty of quality batters in RCB line-up this season who are well aligned with the modern-day T20 cricket and let's see which three of them can outscore Virat Kohli.
1. Rajat Patidar
The Madhya Pradesh batter has been named as RCB captain for this season and he would be itching to prove a point. He was one of their most consistent batters in the last cycle and even scored more than Kohli in IPL 2022. He is also a naturally a power-hitter unlike Kohli and is likely to consistently bat at number 3 this season which would help him make full use of batting tracks, especially in Bengaluru.
Rajat Patidar In SMAT 2024
| Criterion | Data |
|---|---|
| Innings | 9 |
| Runs | 428 |
| Average | 186.09 |
| Strike-Rate | 61.14 |
As shown in the table, he was brilliant in SMAT 2024 as a batter, and was leading Madhya Pradesh as well and took them to the final. He scored ffities in semifinal and finals which shows that he can deliver under pressure and then scored plenty of runs in Vijay Hazare and Ranji Trophy, making him a player in form coming into this IPL.
Overall, he has seven fifties and a hundred in his 24 IPL innings, and has scored his runs at an average of 34.73 and 158.84. All these factors makes him one of the players who can outscore Kohli in IPL 2025.
2. Phil Salt
RCB have included Phil Salt in their arsenal this season to provide them with aggressive starts like he did for KKR in the last season. He was not in great form in ODIs recently, but he is a gun T20 batter and flat batting conditions at Chinnaswamy will suit his batting.
He has a superb T20I where he averages 34.08 and strike-rate of 164.32. He has three hundreds as well and this knack of scoring big when he gets in and help him pile up some big runs.
Phil Salt In IPL 2024
| Criterion | Data |
|---|---|
| Innings | 12 |
| Runs | 435 |
| Average | 39.54 |
| Strike-Rate | 182 |
As evident from the table, he not only scored runs aggressively, but also did it on consistent basis. Also, he has truckloads of experience in the shortest format and the fact that he would be itching to prove a point after disappointing couple of months makes him more dangerous.
3. Jacob Bethell
The young English batter has grown in stature in the last year or so and is considered as one of the future stars for England. He has started off his international career across formats on a positive note and RCB might back him to bat at number four this season after buying him for 2.60 Crore. It means that he would get good amount of time on the field and with lot of matches in IPL, he would also get time to accmiltalise which could help him unleash his true potential.
Jacob Bethell in T20 Blast 2024
| Criterion | Data |
|---|---|
| Innings | 12 |
| Runs | 361 |
| Average | 36.10 |
| Strike-Rate | 153.61 |
In T20 Blast 2024, Jacob Bethell first grabbed limelight and the nature of that tournament is somewhat similar to IPL when it comes to its length. The table shows his impressive numbers in that tournament where he hit four fifties. He has an average of 32.66 in T20Is and strike-rate of 147.36 and thus if he gets it right, he can be a surprise weapon and outscore Virat Kohli.
 "Aashay Chopade")
