Virat Kohli appears to have unlocked an unprecedented purple patch in the latter stages of his career. Since late 2025, Kohli has been in imperious form in ODI cricket, scoring runs for fun against opponents like South Africa, New Zealand, England and West Indies. He has shattered the 15,000-run barrier and reached 55 centuries in the format. Such has been his form that South Africa great and Kohli’s former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate AB de Villiers reckoned that this might be the very best version of him.
De Villiers stated that Kohli is performing even better than he did during the mid-to-late 2010s.
Kohli’s peak is widely regarded to have come between 2015 and 2019, with 2016 one of the standout years in the memories of fans due to his stunning 973-run season in IPL 2016. In 2017 and 2018, he won the ICC Cricketer of the Year award.
“I think it is a better version (than 2016-17) because of the way he’s so relaxed. And out there in the middle, you can almost see he’s completely free,” de Villiers said, speaking to India Today.
“He showed signs of that at the last ICC Champions Trophy in the UAE. I started seeing him play a different role, and then he got stuck a little bit again, going back to old habits, and then just sort of let go completely again,” de Villiers added.
The South Africa legend further elaborated on how Kohli is performing at such a high level at the age of 37.
“He realises that all he can do is just go out there and express his talents and let the fans and the people around the world enjoy that for one last time, or for the next two years or three or five years. I don’t know how long.
“I love seeing this side of him. And I think it must be an incredible experience to share a dressing room with him as a youngster now. I think they are learning from him more than ever, being in this state of mind,” de Villiers explained.
In 2026, Kohli is the fourth-highest run-scorer in ODIs, with 552 runs in just nine innings, at an average of 69 and a strike-rate of nearly 118. He has already slammed two centuries and three fifties in the calendar year, and can add to that tally in India’s upcoming tour of New Zealand.
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