Records and Virat Kohli have long become synonymous. Now the 36-year-old Indian is on the verge of playing his 400th T20 match, when he takes field in the IPL 2025 season opener between KKR and RCB, in Kolkata on Saturday. With this, he will become only the third Indian to enter the list — after Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik, who have played 448 and 412 matches, respectively.
Virat Kohli Third Indian to 400 T20s
Kohli’s 400 matches will also include 125 T20Is, where he announced his retirement last year, after winning the T20 World Cup. In IPL he has played 252/253 so far, and the rest have come for Delhi in domestic competitions. It is important to note that his first ever T20 match was way back in April 2007, where he played against Himachal Pradesh and scored 35 in a losing cause.
MS Dhoni is another Indian who will most likely surpass the 400-match mark in IPL 2025, since he has played 391 games till now. This is a huge achievement for our players, who don’t play any foreign leagues across the world. Coming back to Virat Kohli, so far, in 399 matches he has scored 12,886 runs at an unbelievable average of 41, that includes 9 tons.
Rohit Sharma Leads Pack with 448 Matches
What really stands out in Kohli’s case is, his average of 40 is the best by any batter, who has played more than 100 matches. His best IPL season came in 2016, where he went on to score 973 runs, including four centuries, and took his side into the final almost single-handedly.
Sitting top of the pile is West Indian Keiron Pollard, who in his career has played 695 T20 matches across the world. The next is another Caribbean player, Dwayne Bravo, with 582 matches. Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik is third — with 554 combined matches.
