RCB star Virat Kohli likely to retire from IPL

In an interesting turn of events, the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) captain has decided to decline the renewal of his contract with the franchise ahead of the upcoming IPL 2026 season.

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For the unversed, all franchises are expected to give the names of the retained players by November 15 for the upcoming season. Also, the IPL 2026 mini-auction is scheduled to take place around mid-December. 

According to a report by RevSportz journalist Rohit Juglan, Kohli has reportedly decided not to extend a commercial contract linked to the franchise before the start of the next IPL season, hinting at a change of plans.

"Last time before the mega-auction, I got the lead that before the start of the next season of the IPL (that is in 2026), Virat Kohli would have to renew a contract in association with a brand. But the news is, he has not renewed his contract. Now the speculation is that Virat wants the RCB franchise to plan their way ahead without using his face," reported Rohit Juglan.

Moreover, the report further mentioned that this news has yet to be officially confirmed by Kohli or the franchise itself. Interestingly, Kohli didn’t accept the captaincy offer before the start of the IPL 2025 season, as Rajat Patidar was eventually appointed as the new RCB captain.

"Even last year, ahead of the mega-auction, when he was offered captaincy of the RCB side, he did not show interest in it and rather pined for Rajat Patidar and backed him with utter confidence," he added in his report.

Speaking about his IPL stats, Kohli has accumulated 8661 runs from 267 matches at an average of 39.55 and a strike rate of 132.86 with 63 fifties and eight half-centuries.

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