Kohli tells RCB squad to expect a tougher IPL 2026 as title defence begins in one week
With exactly one week to go before RCB open IPL 2026 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 28 at the Chinnaswamy, Kohli set the tone early. Videos circulating on social media showed the 37-year-old batting for over an hour in the nets, crunching drives and pulls with the kind of intensity that suggests he has no plans to slow down in his 19th IPL season.
Kohli also spoke to the squad alongside head coach Andy Flower. The core of his message, according to reports from the camp: things will be tougher this time around. Every franchise will be gunning for the champions, and there is no room for complacency. He urged the group to treat every training day as non-negotiable and to give 120 per cent across the full two-and-a-half-month season.
339 runs from history
Kohli enters IPL 2026 with 8,661 runs in 267 matches, already the tournament's all-time leading scorer by a distance. He needs just 339 more to become the first player ever to reach 9,000 IPL runs. Given that he has scored over 600 runs in each of the last three seasons, the milestone feels less like a question of if and more a question of when. Most expect it before the halfway mark of the group stage.
Injury clouds elsewhere
While RCB's preparations look smooth, the broader IPL picture is less settled. Several overseas quicks will miss the early rounds. Harshit Rana has been ruled out entirely with a knee injury, leaving KKR scrambling for pace cover. Matheesha Pathirana is not yet fit and may not be available until mid-April. Sam Curran at Rajasthan Royals and Nathan Ellis have also been ruled out, thinning the fast-bowling stocks across multiple franchises.
The BCCI is expected to host the traditional captains' meet and promotional shoot on March 25 in Mumbai, three days before the first ball. For Kohli and RCB, the job is straightforward: prove that last year's triumph was the start of something, not the peak.
