Virat Kohli is the most successful batsman in IPL history. The highest run-getter in the tournament so far, Virat has made 6076 runs in 199 games at an average of 37.97 and a strike rate of 130.41. In 2016, he won the Orange Cap after scoring 973 runs in a single edition. Although once he gets into the groove, it is hard to pick his wicket, at the start of an innings, Virat is usually vulnerable. In this article, we take a look at two bowlers who dismissed Virat Kohli most times in IPL History.
1) Sandeep Sharma – 7 Dismissals (2 Bowled, 3 Caught, 1 Caught Behind, and 1 LBW)
Sandeep Sharma leads this list of bowlers who dismissed Virat Kohli most times in IPL History. The Punjab pacer has had Virat’s wicket on seven occasions. Sandeep Sharma is a genuine swing bowler, and one of Virat’s weaknesses is playing such bowlers at the start of his innings. Hence, he has fallen prey to Sandeep a few times.
Sandeep is actually a severely underrated cricketer in IPL. In 95 matches, he has picked up 110 wickets at an average of 25. Although he initially was restricted to the powerplay, in recent years, he has also developed his skills to bowling at the death. He has this knack of troubling great batsmen, and the likes of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli are two of them.
2) Ashish Nehra – 6 Dismissals (1 Bowled, 3 Caught and 2 Caught Behind)
Former RCB bowling coach Ashish Nehra has picked up Virat Kohli’s wicket on six instants and, hence, makes it to this list. Nehra had a slow start to his IPL career, but his form picked up when he started representing CSK and SRH. He even made it to Team India due to these performances.
In 88 games, Nehra collected 106 wickets, and six of them have been that of Virat Kohli. Nehra always reserved his best when he played against RCB. He played 13 games opposite RCB, and he obtained three 3-wicket-hauls and one four-wicket-haul. Interestingly, the Delhi pacer’s first wicket in the history of IPL was Virat Kohli. When he was playing for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2008, Nehra had Virat caught behind by Luke Ronchi.
Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Dhawal Kulkarni are some of the other Indian bowlers who enjoy a good record against Virat. So far, each of these bowlers has collected his wicket four times. For Bumrah, too, Virat was his first IPL career wicket.
