IPL helps you improve and evolve as a T20 player: Virat Kohli

Dubai: Team India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru's super star batter Virat Kohli said the Indian Premier League helps a player evolve as a better T20 player.

This dynamic nature of the tournament pushes you mentally and competitively in various ways other formats don't. It's also driven me to improve and evolve my T20 skill set constantly," Virat Kohli said while speaking on a show on JioHotstar.

He said the IPL's format and dynamic structure has had a huge influence on his T20 game.

"IPL challenges you in a very unique way because of how the tournament is structured. It's not like a short bilateral series; it spans several weeks, and your position on the points table keeps shifting. That constantly changing scenario brings different kinds of pressure. When you are at the top, there's the pressure to maintain that lead. If you're near the bottom, you need extra motivation to bounce back. And if you're somewhere in the middle, where you need to win, say, three out of five games, even a single loss can suddenly add a lot of pressure," he added.

Kohli has had a fine performance so far in the current edition of the IPL accumulating 164 runs from four matches that includes two half-centuries. His stability has has helped the team secure three wins from four matches.

Kohli might soon approach Chris Gayle, as he became just the fifth batsman to achieve 13,000 runs in T20 during the current IPL 2025 season. Kohli also ranks at the top among Indian batsmen in terms of centuries, hitting nine in his career, eight of which occurred in the IPL.

Kohli had previously surpassed the 10,000-run mark T20 milestone during the 2021 IPL, accomplishing the feat in 299 innings as the third-fastest batsman after Babar Azam and Gayle. More than 8000 of Kohli's T20 runs have been scored in the IPL, where the Royal Challengers Bengaluru star continues to lead the batting charts.

Kohli scored one of his fastest fifties in the IPL against MI at the Wankhede Stadium. RCB is yet to win an IPL title, but they probably have the best squad at their disposal in IPL 2025. Kohli will be next seen in action on April 9, when RCB will take on Delhi Capitals in their next IPL 2025 match in Delhi.