New Delhi: Even after 18 long years, Virat Kohli still possess the hunger to touch bigger heights, believes Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) head coach Andy Flower. Ahead of the 2026 season-opener on Saturday, RCB’s Flower said that Kohli still has a lot of hunger and looks on top of his game as the defending champions gear up to face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the first match.
In RCB’s title-winning season in 2025, Kohli was the leading run-scorer as the Delhi batter amassed a total of 657 runs, powering the Royal Challengers to their maiden trophy. The former Indian captain would like to continue the moment when he walks on the ground from March 28 in the 19th edition of the cash-rich league.
In the last couple of weeks, social media was flooded with images and videos of the veteran RCB player practicing along with his teammates at their home ground which finally got the nod from Karnataka government to host the IPL matches.
Kohli looks flawless: Flower
‘I’ve been watching really closely Kohli batting at nets, he looks on top of his game, he looks super fit. I was watching him do shuttles the other day, he looks light on his feet, very fit, very lean, very hungry,’ said Flower in the pre-match press conference.
‘He’s always been very hungry and determined and I think that mental and emotional space that he’s in, where he’s very comfortable with himself as a person, but he’s also very hungry to drive himself as a professional sportsperson,’ he added.
This will be Kohli’s first tournament since appearing in a home ODI series against New Zealand in January. In addition, the head coach said that he was delighted to see the progress of Rajat Patidar as the franchise skipper.
‘It’s pretty amazing that in Rajat’s first year of captaincy he led RCB to the trophy, he’d only a little bit of captaincy experience before that I think for Madhya Pradesh. But we did like what we saw when we saw him leading.’
(With PTI inputs)