Ruturaj Dashrat Gaikwad has become Chennai Super Kings’ batting cornerstone across six IPL seasons, stacking up 2,502 runs from 1,820 balls at a brisk strike-rate of 137. In 70 innings he has hammered 231 fours and 95 towering sixes, turning every 7.9 balls into a boundary. Twenty half-centuries and two scintillating hundreds—capped by a personal-best 108—underline his consistency and match-winning appetite. Completely a batting specialist, Gaikwad has bowled zero balls and claimed zero wickets, letting his blade do all the talking. Loyal to the yellow jersey since 2020, the Maharashtra right-hander keeps raising the bar for modern T20 openers.

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.