Breaking: Virat Kohli likely to decline renewing IPL contract with RCB

According to the reports from RevSports, the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper is likely to decline the renewal of his contract with the franchise ahead of the upcoming IPL 2026 season.

It’s important to note that all franchises are given the deadline of November 15 to submit the players who are retained for the forthcoming season. Also, the IPL 2026 mini-auction is scheduled to take place around mid-December. 

According to Rohit Juglan, the RevSports journalist, Kohli has hinted at not extending his contract with the Royal Challengers Bengaluru franchise, which means fans might not see him part of the IPL anymore. 

"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.

"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.

Delving into the details of Kohli’s IPL stats, he has amassed 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, winning one IPL title in the recently concluded IPL 2025 season.

Interestingly, this news is yet to be officially finalized by the franchise or Kohli himself. It’s important to note that Kohli didn’t take up the captaincy before the start of the IPL 2025 season, as Rajat Patidar was eventually appointed as the new RCB captain, leading the franchise to the maiden IPL title win.

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