IPL 2021: Virat Kohli becomes first-ever to play 200 games for a single franchise as RCB take on KKR in Abu Dhabi

Virat Kohli has created history on Monday evening (September 20) as soon as the 32-year-old walked out for the toss in Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) face-off versus Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in match 31 of the second leg of IPL 2021, in the UAE.

Kohli has donned the RCB jersey for the 200th time in the IPL and became the first-ever, both Indian and overseas, to play 200 matches for a single franchise in the cash-rich league. He will, thus, become the fifth player to breach the 200 games mark after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and Rohit Sharma.

At the coin toss, at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, RCB captain had a fine start as he called it right and elected to bat first. He told the broadcasters, "We will bat first. Looks like a good pitch, the grass will hold it together, will slow down as the game progresses. This one's special (on RCB's special jersey saluting the Covid frontline warriors worldwide), we promised back in May that we'll play for the Covid warriors, here it is - we'll auction this uniform and the proceeds will go to them. Two debutants for us - KS Bharat and Wanindu Hasranga."

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On Sunday (September 19), as IP 14's UAE leg commenced, Kohli dropped a bomb by announcing that he will step down as the RCB captain after the end of this year's edition. Thus, RCB will look to give a memorable send off to their outgoing skipper by winning their first-ever IPL trophy in the ongoing edition. For that to happen, RCB will look to start well in the second leg.

Currently, RCB are at the third spot in the points table with 5 wins from 7 games.