Shubman Gill outpaces Virat Kohli’s early IPL career across every key batting metric
Shubman Gill is already pulling ahead of Virat Kohli when you look at their IPL stats from the same stages of their careers, and the gap is getting harder to ignore with every game. Through his first 111 IPL appearances, Gill racked up 3,521 runs at an average of 38.27 and a strike rate of 137.05.
At that same point, Kohli had 2,755 runs with a 30.96 average and a 123.16 strike rate. That margin is actually a lot wider than most fans realised. As of April 2026, Gill has hit 4,031 runs in 121 matches, averaging 39.91 with a strike rate of 139.04, including four hundreds and 28 fifties. While Kohli is the league’s all-time leading scorer, the young Gujarat Titans captain is comfortably beating Kohli’s early-career pace.
How Shubman Gill’s strike rate and big-match temperament set him apart?
The raw totals show the big picture, but the real story is in how much more aggressive Shubman Gill has been in high-pressure moments. During the 2025 IPL, Gill finished with 650 runs across 15 games, averaging 50 with a massive 155.87 strike rate.
It wasn’t just about the volume of runs; it was how fast he took them. Kohli actually matched Gill’s consistency in 2025, scoring 657 runs at a 54.75 average, but his 144.71 strike rate still left him a step behind Gill in terms of pure tempo.
There is also a huge difference in how the two players perform in winning efforts. Gill has scored 2,466 runs in wins over his first 111 matches, with all four of his centuries and 17 fifties coming in victories.
In contrast, Virat Kohli had 1,306 runs in wins during that same period, with only seven half-centuries and no hundreds to show for it. In T20 cricket, a player who finds their best form exactly when the team needs a result is invaluable, and Gill has clearly established that habit.
Even when batting first in his first 175 T20s, Gill averaged 36.02 at a 143.22 strike rate, beating out Kohli’s 31.35 average and 126.49 strike rate from the same stage. Setting a target requires an early spark to take the game away from the opposition, and Gill provides that spark more consistently.
Gill’s century count and match-winning presence make the comparison stark
The most obvious difference between the two at this stage is the ability to score hundreds. Gill’s 2023 season was one for the history books; he hammered 890 runs, the second-highest ever in a single IPL season, averaging 59.33 with a 157.80 strike rate and three centuries to win the Orange Cap. Kohli, for all his talent, didn’t manage a single IPL hundred in his first 111 games. Since moving to the Gujarat Titans in 2022, Gill has become the engine room of their batting, largely thanks to that massive 2023 run.
The overall T20 numbers tell the same story. After 175 T20s, Gill has 38 scores of fifty or more, six hundreds and 32 fifties, while Kohli had just 32 half-centuries and no hundreds at that point. The ability to go big and turn a good start into a match-winning century is what separates the elite from the truly dangerous, and Gill has the edge there.
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Virat Kohli eventually became the greatest IPL batter over time, winning the Orange Cap in 2016 and 2024 and setting records that might never be broken. However, looking at their early years, Shubman Gill is outperforming Kohli in runs, average, strike rate, and match-winning hundreds. It suggests Gill isn’t just following in Kohli’s footsteps; he’s raising the bar that Kohli helped build.
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