Ravichandran Ashwin has backed Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) icon Virat Kohli to replicate his record-breaking season from 2016 during the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
His 2016 campaign remains the most prolific individual performance in IPL history, with Kohli finishing the tournament with a staggering 973 runs, including four centuries. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin suggested that Kohli is likely to enjoy his batting and will be at peace this season, having lifted his first-ever IPL title last year.
“Virat Kohli is sitting in a position of complete peace and blissfulness. He has accomplished a lot of things, has won tournaments, he has now won the IPL as well. He just wants to go after that one more 50-over World Cup. He can go and play freely now,” said Ashwin.
Ashwin admitted that while the age factor will be there, Kohli can replicate his numbers from 2016 if he approaches the upcoming season with a free mindset.
“If he comes with an open mindset, he can bat like IPL 2016. The age factor is there. He can definitely go onto repeat it. If he says, ‘Boss, I am just going to let go and have fun’. Even if he makes 300 runs at a strike rate of 170, that is job done for RCB,” he added.
In IPL 2025, 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.
Currently at 8,661 runs in 267 matches with eight centuries and 63 fifties, Virat will be aiming to become the first player to reach the 9,000 run mark in 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 t