The moment Virat Kohli walked out for the toss against Kolkata Knight Riders for the 31st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper achieved a huge milestone. Kohli is now the only player in the history of IPL to don 200 IPL caps for just one franchise. MS Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik have played over 200 IPL matches but they have represented more than one team.

Kohli has only been part of RCB since the inception of the T20 league and continues to be the mainstay of the Bangalore-based franchise. One of the U-19 players available in the draft back in 2008, Kohli could have started his IPL career with his home team, Delhi Capitals.

The franchise didn’t pick Kohli and the former U-19 World Cup-winning skipper joined RCB. The signing turned out to be a historic one and he continues to be part of the franchise. RCB too backed him to the hilt and Kohli was the only player whom they had retained ahead of the IPL 2011 mega-auction.

He was named RCB’s full-time captain before IPL 2013 and continues to lead the side. Though Kohli will step down from captaincy after the ongoing season.

Kohli is also the face of RCB and the highest-paid player in a single edition of IPL. Ahead of IPL 208 mega-auction, Kohli shattered records when he was retained for Rs 17 crore, Rs 2 crore more than the highest retention price.

Talking of his batting, he is the only batsman with over 6000 runs in IPL. Kohli has 6076 runs in IPL and has struck 5 centuries. He has struggled on the captaincy front and only has 60 wins in 132 matches.

RCB are yet to win an IPL title and will hope to end the drought this season. Meanwhile, RCB have won the toss and decided to bat first. Wanindu Hasaranga and KS Bharat have been handed debut caps.