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Star Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and India batter Virat Kohli started practising ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) title defence starting a week from now.
RCB will start their IPL title defence from March 28 onwards with a high-octane contest against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at their home venue of M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Virat, who has had three back-to-back seasons of 600-plus runs, will be extremely crucial to RCB's success, and it will be another season for the man with number 18 on his back chasing history and batting records. Taking to X, RCB posted a brief glimpse of Virat's net session, where he displayed his majestic ball-striking with some special focus on aerial hits. https://x.com/RCBTweets/status/2034942181497348437 The leading run-getter in the IPL will play with more freedom and fearlessness, having got the monkey off his back by capturing the elusive trophy last season by beating Punjab Kings (PBKS) in a well-fought title clash at Ahmedabad. Currently at 8,661 runs in 267 matches with eight centuries and 63 fifties, Virat will also be aiming to become the first player to reach the 9,000 run mark in the IPL history. Having made 9,085 runs in 282 matches for RCB across IPL and now-defunct Champions League T20, Virat is one extraordinary season away from becoming the first-ever player to score 10,000 runs for a single IPL team in all of T20 cricket. Having made 13,543 runs in 414 T20Is, including nine centuries and 105 fifties, Virat will also be aiming to join West Indies titans Chris Gayle (14,562 runs), Kieron Pollard (14,482 runs), England's Alex Hales (14,449 runs), and Australian legend David Warner (14,028 runs) as the fifth member of the 14,000-run club in T20 cricket. Last season, Virat scored 657 runs in 15 innings at an average of 54.75 and a strike rate of 144.71, with eight fifties to his name, finishing as the team's leading run-getter and third-highest run-getter overall. (ANI)
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