Following the elimination of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from IPL 2023 with a six-wicket loss to Gujarat Titans, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has suggested that talismanic batter Virat Kohli should consider joining the Delhi Capitals for the next season.
Pietersen took to his Twitter account and wrote, "Time for VIRAT to make the move to the capital city...! #IPL," after Kohli's valiant unbeaten century, which could not save RCB from exiting the tournament.
Kohli, who initially represented Delhi in domestic cricket before joining the Indian team, has been a part of the Bangalore franchise since the inception of the IPL in 2008. Interestingly, during the first-ever IPL player auction, Delhi had chosen left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan over Kohli. Sangwan was regarded as an excellent bowler at that time and was instrumental in leading India to victory in the U-19 Men's Cricket World Cup in Malaysia.
Reflecting on that incident, Kohli shared in an episode of the RCB podcast last year, "There was one conversation where I heard from people that the Delhi team was interested to go after me but the dynamics of their team turned out to be such that they went for Pradeep Sangwan... In hindsight, I feel it was such an important moment in my life."
Kohli currently holds the record for the highest run-scorer in IPL history, accumulating 7263 runs in 237 matches, including seven centuries and fifty half-centuries. In the ongoing IPL 2023 season, he scored 639 runs in 14 matches, featuring two consecutive centuries and six fifties.
Despite Kohli's outstanding unbeaten century against Gujarat, which set a new record of seven IPL centuries for a batter, surpassing his former RCB teammate Chris Gayle, it was not enough to secure victory. Notably, four of Kohli's seven centuries have been scored at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, making him the leading centurion at a single IPL venue.