Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) might not have an Indian Premier League (IPL) title to their name yet, but they have been one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the tournament's 15-year history.
They have always carried out really smart business in the auctions, especially when it comes to buying batsmen. It is these batsmen who have played a big part in RCB being one of the most marketable IPL franchises off the pitch and an absolute treat to watch on the field.
What if we told you that for all their batting prowess since day one, only one Indian batsman that has represented RCB has managed to score more than 1000 runs for RCB in IPL?
Yes, as ridiculous as that stat sounds, it's true. That Indian player is, of course, Virat Kohli. Heck, he almost scored 1000 runs in a single season, when he was in Super Saiyan mode in IPL 2016, scoring 973 runs in 16 innings.
TSN breaks down how many Indian players have scored at least 1000 runs in the IPL for all the franchises.
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Which IPL team has most Indian batsmen with 1000+ runs?
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Chennai Super Kings (KKR), and Mumbai Indians (MI), the only three IPL franchises to win multiple titles, have the most number of Indian batsmen scoring over a 1000 runs for them in the cash-rich league.
| Team | No. of Indian batsmen scoring 1000+ runs | Players |
| KKR | 9 | Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Yusuf Pathan, Shubman Gill, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Sourav Ganguly, Manoj Tiwary |
| CSK | 7 | Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravindra Jadeja, Subramaniam Badrinath |
| MI | 7 | Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Suryakumar Yadav, Sachin Tendulkar, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya |
| DC | 7 | Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Virender Sehwag, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik |
| RR | 5 | Sanju Samson, Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Dravid, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yusuf Pathan |
| PBKS | 4 | KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Wriddhiman Saha, Mandeep Singh |
| SRH | 2 | Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey |
| RCB | 1 | Virat Kohli |
Note: Player names that are in italics are still playing for the respective franchises
Who are the highest Indian run scorers for RCB in IPL?
| Pos. | Player | Matches | Runs | Avg. | S.R. | 50s | 100s | Best |
| 1 | Virat Kohli* | 233 | 7044 | 36.49 | 129.41 | 50 | 5 | 113 |
| 2 | Rahul Dravid | 43 | 898 | 26.4 | 122.84 | 4 | 0 | 75* |
| 3 | Devdutt Padikkal | 29 | 884 | 31.57 | 125.03 | 6 | 1 | 101* |
| 4 | Parthiv Patel | 32 | 731 | 25.21 | 130.07 | 4 | 0 | 67 |
| 5 | Dinesh Karthik* | 43 | 611 | 22.62 | 153.51 | 1 | 0 | 66* |
| 6 | Mandeep Singh | 40 | 597 | 22.11 | 128.94 | 2 | 0 | 54* |
| 7 | Robin Uthappa | 31 | 549 | 23.86 | 141.49 | 4 | 0 | 68* |
| 8 | Saurabh Tiwary | 40 | 487 | 24.35 | 104.95 | 1 | 0 | 52 |
| 9 | Mayank Agarwal | 29 | 433 | 18.82 | 127.35 | 1 | 0 | 64* |
| 10 | KL Rahul | 19 | 417 | 37.91 | 145.29 | 4 | 0 | 68* |
| Manish Pandey | 18 | 417 | 29.79 | 121.22 | 0 | 1 | 114* |
Note: Player name followed by an asterisk (*) indicates that they are still playing for RCB
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RCB's batting woes in IPL
As smart as they have often been in the auctions before an IPL season begins, RCB have more often than not failed to sign a reliable Indian batsman who can be a match-winner for them and, more importantly, be the embodiment of consistency.
As you can see in the table above, Virat Kohli is the only Indian batsman to have scored more than 1000 runs in IPL for RCB. The next five batsmen in RCB's all-time run scorer list are all overseas players (Ab de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Glenn Maxwell, Jacques Kallis, Faf du Plessis).
Even this year, outside their top-order contingent of Kohli, Maxwell, and Faf, there hasn't been any real contribution from the batting department, which has seriously hurt them and could very well jeopardise their chances of making it to the playoffs.
And this has been the trend for over a decade now. It was Kallis, Kevin Pietersen, and Ross Taylor when IPL was in its infancy. Then the troika of ABD, Gayle, and Kohli, and now the famed 'KGF' trio.
