Tim Southee has quietly become one of the IPL’s most bankable death-over specialists, piling up 47 wickets from 54 bowling innings across ten seasons for six franchises. The New Zealand quick’s most recent spell with Kolkata Knight Riders—his home since 2021—has seen him own the tough overs, landing four three-wicket hauls while never once conceding a five-for. Operating at an 8.67 economy rate and striking every 25.66 balls, Southee’s 1,206 legal deliveries have cost batters 1,742 runs but have also delivered momentum-turning breakthroughs. Away from the ball, the lower-order slugger has pounced on loose deliveries when asked, racing to 120 runs off only 107 balls, including eight fours and four sixes, with a top-score of 36. Yet the real story remains his mastery with the ball: three maximums in an innings on his best day, and a career-best haul of three wickets in a match—achieved four times—showing that Southee’s value rises when the pressure peaks.

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.