The 2026 Indian Premier League is almost back as players have started to unpack for the season. Meanwhile, the star player Virat Kohli is eyeing a new record in the Indian Premier League. Currently, he is one of the few batters who have been playing in the league since its inauguration. After playing 267 matches for the Royal Chellengers Bengaluru, he scored 8661 runs in 259 innings. This means he needs 339 runs in the 2026 Indian Premier League to make 9000 runs- a feat yet to be achieved by anyone. Notably, he still leads the chart of top run-getters in the IPL. He sits way ahead of Rohit Sharma (7046), who is the only active player in the list. Meanwhile, David Warner, who once led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to their only title, sits fourth in the list, that too as the only overseas batter. The Top 5 run scorers in IPL History Rank Player Runs Matches 1 Virat Kohli 8661 267 2 Rohit Sharma 7046 272 3 Shikhar Dhawan 6769 222 4 David Warner 6565 184 5 Suresh Raina 5528 2025 Virat Kohli's records in IPL Before even reaching the 9000 club, Virat Kohli has set a good number of records, yet to be broken by anyone. The 8661 runs feature 8 centuries, still the most by a batter in IPL history. He scored 63 half-centuries, only to be led by David Warner, who smashed 68 half-tons. He is the only one to have 71 fifty-plus scores too. In 2016, he scored 973 runs in 16 innings, a record that has yet to be broken. In the same season, he scored 4 centuries, the most until Jos Buttler shared it, In 2022, Buttler almost challenged Kohli's record, even though he stopped at 863 runs, but had four centuries. Kohli is also the only player to score 600+ runs in five different IPL seasons (2013, 2016, 2023, 2024, 2025). He got the orange cap twice, in 2016 and then 2024, with 741 runs. Apart from batting, he is a prolific fielder, taking 118 catches, the most by a non-wicketkeeper in the IPL, Notably, RCB will be playing the opening match of the 2026 IPL against SRH on March 28 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Later, they will play three more matches as per the first phase schedule, on April 5, 10, and 12, against the Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, and Mumbai Indians, respectively.