Virat Kohli or Chris Gayle - who has been the greater batter for RCB in the IPL?
Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle have been two of the most successful batters in IPL history. Both players have won the Orange Cap award and once opened the innings together for Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
In fact, the duo of Kohli and Gayle played a huge role in RCB's journey to the IPL 2016 final. They also had a 114-run opening stand in the final match against Sunrisers Hyderabad that season. Unfortunately, their partnership did not last longer. Otherwise, they could have guided RCB to their first trophy.
Chris Gayle has retired from IPL now but Virat Kohli is still going strong in the RCB jersey. We compare the stats of Kohli and Gayle while playing for RCB and determine who has been the greater batter.
#1 Virat Kohli vs Chris Gayle - Which batter has the most centuries for RCB?
Virat Kohli has been associated with Royal Challengers Bengaluru since the inaugural season. Kohli has scored 8,004 runs in 244 innings for RCB, with his highest score being 113*. Kohli has notably registered eight centuries for the Bengaluru-based franchise.
Meanwhile, Chris Gayle played for RCB from 2011 to 2017. He amassed 3,163 runs in 84 innings and his highest score was 175. Gayle scored five hundreds for RCB, which is three less than Kohli. Hence, Kohli gets the lead here.
Score: Virat Kohli 1 - 0 Chris Gayle.
#2 Virat vs Gayle - Who scored most runs in an IPL season for RCB?
As mentioned ahead, both Kohli and Gayle won the Orange Cap while playing for RCB. Both batters accomplished the feat twice. Kohli won the award in 2016 and 2024 while Gayle took the Orange Cap home in 2011 and 2012.
However, Kohli owns the record for scoring the most runs in one IPL season for RCB. It was in 2016 when Kohli amassed 973 runs. Gayle's highest aggregate in one IPL season for RCB came in 2012, where he scored 733 runs.
Score: Virat Kohli 2 - 0 Chris Gayle.
#3 Virat vs Gayle - Who has the better average + strike rate for RCB in IPL?
Cricket experts often consider the 'average + strike rate' metric to rate the batters in shorter formats. If the total is more than 165 after at least 25 innings, the batter is doing a decent job.
Kohli has scored 8,004 runs at an average of 38.67 and a strike rate of 131.97 for RCB in IPL. The sum total of his average + strike rate is 170.64.
Gayle averaged 43.33 and scored 3,163 runs at a strike rate of 152.73, which sums up to 196.06. The Caribbean big-hitter has a lead over Kohli in this statistic, which is why he gets the point.
Final Score: Virat Kohli 2 - 1 Chris Gayle.
To conclude, Virat has been a greater batter for RCB than Gayle because of his consistency and longevity. Also, he had the pressure of the captaincy in eight seasons but that did not have a major impact on his numbers.