Sanjay Manjrekar omits Virat Kohli, includes KL Rahul & Shreyas Iyer in his top IPL 2025 batters

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar left out star batter Virat Kohli from his list of top batters of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The IPL 2025 season is in full swing and is approaching its business end.

Sanjay Manjrekar put a list of batters on social media, with a post on his official X (Twitter) handle. His first name included Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) batter Nicholas Pooran, who has scored 377 runs at a strike-rate of 204.89. The next name was of Punjab Kings (PBKS) opener Priyansh Arya, who has made 254 runs so far at a strike-rate of 201.58.

He also included PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer, who has 263 runs so far this season, at a strike rate of 185.21. The list also includes Suryakumar Yadav, who has scored 373 runs, striking at 167.

Manjrekar then added Gujarat Titans (GT) batter Jos Buttler, who has 356 runs at a strike-rate of 165.58, along with GT skipper Shubman Gill, who has scored 305 runs striking at 153.26. He also included Australians Mitchell Marsh (344 runs at a strike-rate of 160.74) and Travis Head (261 runs at a strike-rate of 159.14).

The former Indian cricketer's list also included Heinrich Klaasen, who has made 288 runs at a strike-rate of 156.52, and KL Rahul, who has scored 323 runs at 153.80.

While Sanjay Manjrekar did leave Virat Kohli out, the star Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter has been in solid form this season. He is the leading run-scorer for his team so far with 392 runs from nine innings.

Virat Kohli has scored his runs at a strike rate of 144.11. However, it is worth noting that he has been consistent, playing a major role in RCB's successful run. Despite a lower strike rate than the other batters in this list, Kohli has been extremely effective and instrumental to his team's cause, which is crucial.

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Virat Kohli among key reasons for RCB's success in IPL 2025

Virat Kohli's strike rate may be lower than most other batters in the IPL 2025 season, however, he is second on the list of highest run-scorers this season, only behind Sai Sudharsan.

He has scored five half-centuries so far, and all of them have come in a winning cause. Kohli has been one of the main reasons for RCB's successful campaign this season. They have won six out of their nine matches and, with 12 points, are third on the table and on the brink of sealing their spot for the playoffs.

Out of these six games, Kohli has scored fifties in five matches. He is the glue to RCB's batting, and has been for years, in the history of the league.

RCB will expect their senior batter to keep scoring runs as they go forward and aim to lay their hands on the elusive IPL trophy, which has been away from them for 17 seasons.