South African opener Matthew Breetzke made his IPL debut with Lucknow Super Giants in the 2025 season, injecting fearless intent into the top order during his sole visit to the crease. Facing 12 balls, the 25-year-old raced to 14 runs at a brisk strike rate of 116, showing immediate comfort against both spin and pace. In that short stay he split the off-side rope with a crisp four and cleared the long-on fence with a calculated six, hinting at the boundary-clearing power that has marked his domestic T20 career. Although the knock ended at 14, it remains his highest score in the tournament’s history—so far. With zero half-centuries and no hundreds recorded yet, the numbers tell the story of a talent still waiting for the long-format IPL innings that his talent promises. Bowling-wise, Breetzke has not been called upon, so every metric—wickets, economy, strike rate—reads a clean slate, reinforcing his primary identity as a frontline batter. Entering the Lucknow Super Giants set-up for the 2025 campaign, the right-hander brings the reputation of a 130-plus strike-rate basher from South Africa’s SA20, ready to translate domestic fireworks into IPL glory. Fantasy managers and fans alike will watch closely when the 2026 mega-auction rolls around, eager to see if Breetzke can turn one promising cameo into a season-long run feast.

Virat Kohli is the undisputed batting king of the Indian Premier League, a Royal Challengers Bengaluru lifer who has turned loyalty into legend across 18 electrifying seasons from 2008 to 2025. With 8,661 runs off 6,519 balls, Kohli is the league’s highest-ever run-getter, firing at a strike rate of 132 and painting every corner of every ground with 771 fours and 291 towering sixes. His 63 half-centuries and 8 hundreds—topped by a blistering 113*—tell the story of a man who converts starts into statements, walking in 259 innings and delivering a match-defining fifty or hundred in roughly one out of every four trips to the crease. While he has rolled his arm over occasionally, claiming four wickets from 26 bowling innings, it is with the bat that Kohli has authored the IPL’s most enduring chronicle, forever clad in the red and gold of RCB.

Note: This overview is partially generated using AI and is based on statistical data. Please verify with official sources for complete accuracy.