IPL explosive finisher R Shepherd has become the league’s go-to six-hitting all-rounder for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2025. Across four IPL seasons with four different franchises—RCB, Mumbai Indians, Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad—Shepherd has muscled 185 runs at a jaw-dropping strike-rate of 212, clearing the ropes 17 times and finding the fence on 12 other occasions. His lone half-century, a 28-ball 53, showcased his ability to turn games in the death overs. While batting remains his headline act, Shepherd’s right-arm medium has quietly chipped in with 10 wickets from 15 bowling innings. Operating at an economy of 11.66 and a strike-rate of 21, he has twice returned with two-wicket bursts, providing crucial breakthroughs when captains need a momentum shift. From Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2022 to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2025, Shepherd’s journey underlines a player trusted for his big-hitting prowess and handy overs—a modern T20 utility who can win matches with both bat and ball.

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.