Former India and Royal Challengers Bengaluru wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has said that Virat Kohli is a ‘genius par excellence’, lauding him for scoring over 9000 runs in the Indian Premier League, a feat unmatched by anyone and far from most other batters in the business currently. Kohli all but set the tone for Bengaluru in the 228-run chase against the Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday with a blistering 54-run innings off 30 deliveries. Kohli has smacked eight fifties in IPL 2025, in which he has made 602 runs at a stunning average of 60.2. VIRAT KOHLI – Only batter to score 600+ runs in 5 seasons of the IPL. 🤯 3rd consecutive 600+ run season and we’ve still got a couple’ games left. King for every reason! ? pic.twitter.com/mUbY3lfdmp — Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 28, 2025 Playing his 18th Indian Premier League season, Kohli remains a strong contender in the Orange Cap race, holding the fifth spot on the leaderboard. “Genius par excellence, that’s the start, I’ll say for Virat Kohli. Across 18 seasons, he already averages, not averages, he’s got 9000 runs, which is 500 runs a season. People managed to get those 12 seasons,” Karthik said while speaking after the match. “Hayden has got it a few times more, but it is such a hard ask. But for him to come churn out runs every year, have that motivation, even in warmups, the way he feels. I was just hitting a few balls to him, the speed at which it comes back in the mid, it tells you the man has got so much passion,” Karthik added. Against Lucknow, Bengaluru began in a hurry chasing an imposing 228, as Kohli and Phil Salt added 61 runs within the powerplay before Jitesh Sharma and Mayank Agarwal took them home. But it began with Kohli and Salt playing risk-free cricket even in the powerplay, smacking 12 boundaries in that phase before the latter got dismissed by Akash Singh. But Kohli continued to pierce the field for fours even after the powerplay and a backfoot punch that raced to the fence for a boundary off Akash was a treat to watch. The shot carried Kohli past the 50-run mark off just 27 deliveries, but he couldn’t convert that into something bigger. RCB will take on the Punjab Kings for a spot in the final on Thursday in Mullanpur.