A look Virat Kohli’s career record in the IPL, on the eve of what will be his fourth final on Tuesday, makes one wonder at the irony of it all. The highest run-getter in the history of the league with 8,552 runs, most centuries (8), half-centuries (62) and most runs in a season (973) still has one trophy missing in his cabinet, raising expectations for the drought to end ahead of the title clash against outsiders Punjab Kings.

Now that the anticipation of a possible ‘Ro-Ko’ final has blown over, it’s about whether the pied piper of Indian cricket can end a 17-year itch. The pressures of captaincy long gone and the rigour of international cricket down to only one format from now on, Kohli looked a lot more relaxed during the 2025 season, scoring runs for fun as he is set to finish fifth in the Orange Cap race with 614 runs after the Qualifier 1.

However, this is not to suggest that the hunger to lift the IPL trophy for once has diminished one bit. Just rewind to Qualifier 1 in Mullanpur where after each Punjab Kings wicket, Kohli was as animated as ever and his legion of fans can expect the same intensity in a replay in the cavernous Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The odds may be tilted again in favour of Royal Challengers Bengaluru in terms of man-to-man and the experience quotient, but then T20 can be a strange format.

The sense of awe which Kohli evokes among his teammates and support staff these days — be it in the Indian dressing team or that of his franchise — is palpable. Dinesh Karthik, an erstwhile teammate of Kohli in both the Indian team and RCB and now a mentor of the franchise, rated him at par with global athletes like a Novak Djokovic or Kobe Bryant simply for the work ethic.

“Virat Kohli is one of the most pristine greats of the game. And I use the word pristine purely because of his work ethics. I think he’d be right up there with Kobe Bryant of the world, with Novak Djokovic,’’ DK told the RCB media and went on to validate it: "I say that purely because of the amount of time he puts in prep. I think he’s worked so hard on things that are not seen on the screen is what makes him such a pure, unfiltered, unadulterated, high-quality performer. And that’s what he’s been doing for RCB for quite some time now.”

A one-franchise man, Kohli has batted in a number of positions in the top order for RCB over the years before settling down in the opener’s role. Phil Salt, the enterprising England opener who played a key role in Kolkata Knight Riders’ successful campaign last year, has hit it off with his senior partner extremely well in their very first season and attributes it to the understanding between them.