Here’s a number worth sitting with for a moment: 165.50. That’s Virat Kohli’s strike rate in IPL 2026 so far, across his first nine innings. Just two seasons ago, if you had told his critics that number was coming, they would have called it wishful thinking. Kohli for so long the guy who played it careful, who nursed the innings, who refused to give his wicket away is now one of the most aggressive starters in the tournament. Something clearly changed. And it didn’t happen by accident, but its his well planned execution.
The Problem With Being the “Main Man”
For years in T20 cricket, Kohli carried an invisible weight: the feeling that he had to be there for as long as possible. If he was batting, things were under control. If he got out, it all might fall apart. And that belief shaped with how much strike he should play.
You can understand the logic. When you’re the best batter in the side, you want to be there at the end. But T20 cricket doesn’t always reward that thinking. Especially When T20 Cricket has evolved so much in last few years, nowadays 240 is not safe score anymore.
Although Kohli was never bad in T20s. He was scoring runs in almost every match. But the question the format kept asking him was a harder one was he scoring fast enough, early enough, to set up what the team needed?
The Night Something Clicked
29 June, 2024. The T20 World Cup final in Barbados, India vs South Africa. India’s innings wasn’t going smoothly they were 34/3 in trouble, but Kohli held it together with a knock of 76 off 59 balls. It was exactly what the moment needed not flashy, but purposeful, well-timed, and faster than his older self would have allowed.
ESPNcricinfo described it as Kohli making a real mental shift moving away from “wanting to bat long, which works in every other format for him, to wanting to create impact and trusting those after him in T20s.” India won. Kohli had played the format on its own terms. It was probably the night things began to settle in his mind.
Three Seasons, One Clear Direction
The numbers tell the story cleanly:
| Season | Runs | Strike Rate |
| IPL 2024 | 741 runs | 154.69 |
| IPL 2025 | 657 runs (15 matches) | 144.71 |
| IPL 2026 (so far) | 379 runs (9 innings) | 165.50 |
IPL 2025’s strike rate looks lower at first, but don’t let that fool you. That was the season Kohli averaged 54.75, hit eight fifties, and helped RCB win their first-ever IPL title. He wasn’t just piling up runs for himself he was batting in a way that gave everyone else around him room to play freely. And they did exactly same.
The 2025 title wasn’t the end of his transformation. If anything, it gave him the confidence to push further. IPL 2026 has seen him hit a career best strike rate proof that he’s still moving forward, not settling.
What He Actually Changed?
After RCB’s 2025 win, Cheteshwar Pujara said something that cuts to the heart of it. He pointed out that fans had been on Kohli’s case for years about his strike rate, and then, just like that, Kohli went out and batted at 140–150+. “He has evolved as a batter,” Pujara said simply. “He has answered that question.”
What makes it even more impressive, Pujara noted, is the age at which Kohli did it. “It doesn’t come naturally. You need to work on it, and even to work on it at this age, when he is 36 and has played the game for such a long time if you are still willing to learn and make a difference to the team, that shows how big a player he is.”
So what did he actually change? From what i have seen, it’s less about playing different shots and more about deciding earlier. He stopped hesitating on balls he could attack. He cut down on the singles and twos he used to play just to keep the scoreboard ticking and his wicket intact. He started trusting that even if he got out, someone else would handle things for the RCB.
It Was Never Really About Technique
Here’s the thing Kohli always had the range of shots. He always had the physical ability to score at 160+. The real change wasn’t about adding a ramp shot or discovering a new six-hitting technique. It was about letting go.
Letting go of the idea that his wicket mattered more than everyone else’s. Letting go of the pressure to hold everything together alone. Letting go of the role he’d given himself over fifteen years of batting in tough situations for India.
That kind of change takes time. And it probably needed the right moment a World Cup final, a title win, a squad that genuinely made him feel like he wasn’t the only one who could do the job.
Why It Matter Beyond Kohli
What Kohli has done in the last couple of seasons is a reminder of something T20 cricket keeps proving over and over: the format doesn’t care about reputations. It doesn’t reward you for being cautious because you’re too valuable to lose. It rewards whoever is actually scoring the runs, at the pace the situation needs.
At 37, Kohli is still figuring out how to be better. That in itself is remarkable. But what’s more interesting is what it says to every other top-order batter who thinks their job is to survive rather than attack.
The format doesn’t owe anyone a long innings. 165.50 Strike Rate is Kohli’s answer to that.
*All statistics current as of April 2026. IPL 2026 figures based on nine innings played.
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