Desk. In the first match of IPL 2026, RCB’s veteran batsman Virat Kohli played an unbeaten inning of 69 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad. With this inning, Virat made many records in his name. Virat has now become the highest run scorer in T20 format as an Asian batsman. In this matter, he has broken the record of Pakistani legend Shoaib Malik. Earlier, the record of scoring most runs as an Asian batsman in T20 cricket was in the name of Shoaib Malik.
Virat Kohli was the second Asian batsman to score the most runs in T20 cricket before the first match of IPL 2026. But during the match against Hyderabad, he became the highest run scorer in T20 as an Asian batsman. As soon as Virat crossed the 29-run mark in this match, he left Shoaib Malik behind. Shoaib Malik had scored 13571 runs in his T20 career. At the same time, Virat Kohli had scored 13543 runs before this match. Now he has scored 13612 runs in this format. In this way Shoaib Malik has now slipped to second position.
Virat Kohli is at overall sixth position in the list of batsmen who have scored the most runs in the T20 format. Chris Gayle’s name is at the top in this list. After that there are players like Kieron Pollard, Alex Hales, David Warner and Jos Buttler. Gayle has scored 14562, Pollard 14482, Hales 14449, Warner 14063 and Butler 13845. Virat Kohli can also reach the top-5 in the list of batsmen who have scored the most runs. In this match, Kohli played an inning of 69 runs in 38 balls with the help of 5 fours and 5 sixes. His strike rate was 181.58.
In this match, Virat made another big record in his name. Virat has now become the first batsman to score most innings of 50 plus runs in a win in IPL. Virat Kohli has scored more than 50 runs for the 42nd time in the team’s victory in the IPL. David Warner had done this feat 41 times. Virat Kohli undoubtedly had to play more innings than Warner but he has now left Warner behind in that matter. Warner had scored 41 fifty plus scores in 79 innings. Whereas Virat Kohli achieved this feat in his 126th innings.
