Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli scripted history on Thursday (October 15)  as he became the first ever cricketer to play 200 matches for one franchise in T20 cricket.


Kohli achieved this monumental feat during his 200th appearance for RCB in his team's IPL 2020 encounter against Kings Eleven Punjab in the Indian Premier League at Sharjah (UAE) on Thursday.

Kohli has now made 185 appearances in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for RCB. He has also played 15 Champions League T20 (CLT20) games for the same side. The Indian skipper has also become the first cricketer to play the 200th game for one single team.

"RCB means a lot, not many understand that emotion. 200 games for them is unbelievable, I wouldn't have believed it in 2008. It is an honour, they've kept me and I have stayed on," said Kohli during the toss via host broadcaster.

After achieving the herculean feat, Kohli claimed that he had never thought back in 2008 that one day he will play the 200th game for RCB.

RCB lost their third match of the season as Kings Eleven Punjab beat them by 8 wickets at the Sharjah Cricket Ground in Sharjah. It was RCB's second straight loss to the Punjab-based franchise in the ongoing season of the IPL. Skipper Kohli top scored with a 48-run knock of 39 deliveries in a losing cause for his team.

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Kohli was roped in by RCB in the 2008 IPL auctions. RCB are currently placed on the third spot with 10 points in eight matches in the ongoing IPL and still have a very strong chance of making it to the playoffs.

The prolific run scorer and RCB's batting mainstay leads the run scoring charts in the IPL with 5,668 runs in 176 IPL innings, at an average of 38.56. He is second behind Chris Gayle for the most tons in IPL, having notched up five centuries in the coveted T20 league.

PLAYING 11s for RCB vs KXIP game in IPL:

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Chris Gayle, KL Rahul(w/c), Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers(w), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal.