IPL 2018, Captain's Corner: Virat Kohli's RCB Ready For Season 2018 Challenge

The Indian Premier League is all set to light up the stage again from April 7 when eight teams begin competing with each other in by far the most competitive T20 league in the world. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), who have grown and given strong performances in almost every season will look to conquer the tournament this time around. In the last ten seasons of the slam-bang league, RCB have acquired the services of Kevin Pietersen, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson and the list is endless, but these big names have not been able to get their hand on the winner's trophy.

The biggest strength of RCB this time is their skipper Virat Kohli's sublime form across all formats. Kohli is an aggressor on the field and the run machine of India will not leave any stone unturned to help his team win their maiden title.

Kohli is in top of his game and has scored 1833 runs in 29 One-day international matches he has played in the last year with an astounding average of 96.47. In T20Is, the Delhi lad has scored 274 runs in nine matches with an average nearly touching 40 (39.14).

This man is already a limited overs legend, having scored 35 ODI centuries, also scoring more than 9000 runs in the process. He has an average of over 50 in all three formats of the game.

Kohli scored 973 runs in IPL 2016 with an average of 81 in 16 matches, including four centuries. His performance was marred with injuries in the last season which saw a downfall in his game but this season he is expected to come out with all guns blazing.

He was already one of the highest paid players in the IPL before the 2018 Player Retentions, which was held in Mumbai last month, but his salary with the Royal Challengers Bangalore received another boost as the franchise shelled out Rs 17 crore to retain the Indian skipper, making him the most expensive IPL player in terms of league fee. According to earlier figures released by the BCCI, Kohli was being paid Rs. 15 crore by RCB.

The Bangalore franchise will open their campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 8.