Modern T20 batting is all about playing aggressive cricket, with boundaries emerging as the primary currency.
The ongoing IPL season has perfectly reflected that change in approach. Among batters with at least 100 runs, five have struck at over 200 this season, up from one last season. Over 1300 sixes have already been hit this year, the highest ever across a single season with four games to go.
Against this backdrop, stand Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, two of the all time IPL greats, and their ‘old-school’ batting approach.
This season, however, we have witnessed a change.
Kohli, IPL’s leading run scorer, has struck at 165 this year, his highest across a season ever. Not quite the 200 range the youngsters have been operating at, but for a player whose IPL career strike rate has hovered around the 130s, it’s a significant jump.
The upturn in intent has been visible in not just his scoring rate, but the manner in which he has gone about scoring the runs. The RCB opener, whose batting has been built around running between the wickets throughout his career, has also increased his reliance on boundaries this year.
The 37-year-old’s boundary percentage (number of boundaries per 100 deliveries) this season stands at over 23.52, a five-percentage increase compared to last year’s IPL. His second most prolific season in terms of boundary percentage came in the 2024 season, when Kohli hit 21 boundaries for every 100 deliveries he faced.
It has not been a dramatic shift, as the core of his batting remains rooted in classical stroke play, but his tendency to take risks has increased.
From playing a lofted shot every 21 deliveries in 2023, the former RCB captain has increased his frequency to four deliveries this season. His attacking shot percentage has climbed from 40.6% in 2021 to 72.8% in 2026, up from 68% in 2025.
With the group stage done and dusted, Kohli will now be looking to carry forward that same approach in the Playoffs starting with the Qualifier 1 clash against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday, especially given his underwhelming record in the knockout stages, where he has struck at 121 in 17 games, below par by any standards.
Kohli, IPL’s leading run scorer, has struck at 165 this year, his highest across a season ever. | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP
Kohli, IPL’s leading run scorer, has struck at 165 this year, his highest across a season ever. | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP
Ex-India cricketer and former Punjab kings batting coach Wasim Jaffer thinks Kohli’s improved game against spin over the last couple of years is what has helped the Delhi batter become more attacking in the shortest format.
“Kohli hardly used to take down the spinners in the middle overs before, but over the last two seasons, he has taken more risks. Now we see him play the slog sweep and step out of the crease more often, because he has realized in today’s times there is simply no option to slow down anymore,” said Jaffer.
The numbers show there’s merit to Jaffer’s observation. Kohli’s attacking shot percentage against spin this year is his highest across a single season in his career as well – 68.6%, seven percentage points higher than his magical 973-run season in 2016 and up by four from 2025.
While Kohli’s transition to showing more intent has been more of a recent phenomenon, Rohit’s exploits have been a continuation of a trend he introduced after the 2022 T20 World Cup.
The Indian team’s tame defeat in the semifinal against England in that tournament proved to be an eye-opener, igniting the team to play more fearlessly under Rohit’s leadership.
The switch was on full display starting with the very next ICC tournament, the 2023 ODI World Cup. Rohit’s philosophy to go big from ball one helped the team assert dominance, a template that the opener followed in the 2024 T20 World Cup as well.
And this change in mindset has brought success for the team, as India has won the last two editions of the T20 World Cup since the heartbreak in 2022.
“Rohit deserves all the credit for the way the Indian team is playing today. Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, and the others, it’s Rohit that opened the doors for them by bringing about a positive change to the way the Indian team played,” Jaffer added.
From an IPL point of view, while Rohit has been known for taking the attack to the bowlers in the past, he has elevated that approach to a higher level in the 2026 season.
Excluding the last three games where Rohit was dismissed cheaply, the former Mumbai Indians captain’s strike rate has soared from 150 in the last couple of years to around 178 this season.
Rohit’s six-hitting prowess has also risen a notch, having hit a six roughly every eight balls this year, compared to 12 deliveries on average from the last couple of years.
Rohit Sharma has elevated his aggressive approach to a higher level in the 2026 season. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
Rohit Sharma has elevated his aggressive approach to a higher level in the 2026 season. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
The opener’s defensive shot percentage has come down to 4.8% compared to 6.1% in 2025 and 13.9% in 2024, another indicator that the 39-year-old has taken a further stride forward. However, despite Rohit’s performances, MI has struggled this season, finishing ninth and failing to qualify for the Playoffs.
Kohli and Rohit, who are inarguably in the final phase of their careers, might have retired from T20 internationals in 2024. But their performances in the 2026 season have made one thing clear – they are still more than capable of thriving in an era where batting standards continue to rise at a relentless pace.
Published on May 26, 2026
