Virat Kohli's remarkable 2016 IPL season

The Indian Premier League was launched in 2008 and iconic India batter Virat Kohli has appeared in every edition of the competition.

Kohli is preparing for his 18th season with Royal Challengers Bengaluru and, although he is yet to lift the trophy, he dominates the IPL batting records.

He has scored more runs (8,004) and more centuries (8) than any other player in IPL history and here we reflect on his stunning 2016 campaign, in which he racked up 973 runs in 16 innings.

Slow start despite Kohli's maiden T20 century

Kohli's run-laden 2016 IPL season began in ominous fashion for opposition bowlers as he cracked 75 off 51 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Captaining and opening the batting for RCB, Kohli forged a superb alliance with South Africa ace AB de Villiers, who smashed 82 off 42 to set up a comfortable opening victory.

However, Royal Challengers were brought down to earth in their second game, a seven-wicket home defeat to Delhi Daredevils.

A classy 79 from Kohli and 55 from De Villiers couldn't prevent a loss for RCB, sparking a run of five defeats in six matches.

Their sole win during that sequence was, inevitably, inspired by the in-form Kohli (80) and AB (83), who shared a second-wicket stand of 155 against Rising Pune Supergiants.

The first T20 century of Kohli's career - 100 not out off 63 deliveries - came in a losing cause against Gujarat Lions, but he was dismissed for 14 against Sunrisers next time out.

KL Rahul and Chris Gayle opened for RCB in their fifth defeat of the season, against Kolkata Knight Riders, with Kohli contributing 52 from number three, but their chances of qualifying for the play-offs already looked slim.

Skipper RCB boys into the play-offs

With his side under pressure midway through the league stage of the 2016 season, it was time for captain Kohli to lead from the front.

Renowned as a master of white-ball run-chases, he struck a magnificent unbeaten 108 off 58 deliveries to seal a seven-wicket victory over MS Dhoni's Pune.

After losing five of their first seven league fixtures, RCB won six of their next seven although their only defeat, against Mumbai Indians, coincided with Kohli's first single-figure score of the season.

He hit Tim Southee for six in the first over, but was caught off the first ball of the second over, bowled by another New Zealand paceman, Mitchell McClenaghan.

Kohli bounced back immediately, making 109 against Gujarat in another mammoth partnership with De Villiers, who thrashed 129 not out off just 52 balls.

Remarkably, with just three overs remaining, Kohli was on 52 from 41 balls, but he struck 30 runs off the 19th over, bowled by Shivil Kaushik, before reaching his century with a six off Praveen Kumar in the last set of six.

The RCB skipper signed off the league stage with a hat-trick of player-of-the-match awards in comfortable wins over Kolkata, Kings XI Punjab and Delhi.

He made 75 not out against the Knight Riders and 54 not out against the Daredevils, against displaying his prowess in a run-chase.

In between those innings, he scored a 50-ball 113 against Kings XI, whose bowlers suffered a chastening experience against RCB openers Kohli and Gayle.

They posted a first-wicket stand of 147 in only 11 overs, with both batters hitting eight sixes in the innings, and Kohli, who had failed to score a century in his first eight IPL campaigns, now had four tons in the space of 25 days.

His outstanding batting form powered RCB to second place in the regular-season standings and they went into the play-offs in great heart.

Kohli and co come up short but record stands

RCB's bowlers made a blistering start to their play-off Qualifier against Gujarat, dismissing Aaron Finch (4), Brendon McCullum (1) and Suresh Raina (1) inside the first four overs.

Chasing 159, though, the Royal Challengers found themselves in even deeper trouble as Kohli chopped the second ball he faced on to his stumps to fall for a rare duck.

Gayle (9), KL Rahul (0), Shane Watson (1) and Sachin Baby (0) soon followed their skipper back to the dugout, but a sparkling knock of 79 not out off 47 balls from De Villiers sealed a tense four-wicket win.

That set up an IPL final on home turf in Bengaluru against Sunrisers, whose captain David Warner was also enjoying a glorious season.

The Australia opener top-scored with 69 in the first innings of the match, taking his tally for the season to 848 runs, setting RCB a target of 209.

They looked to be well on course thanks to Gayle's 38-ball 76 and had reached 140-1 before Kohli was bowled by Barinder Sran for 54.

A rare failure from De Villiers (5) sparked a batting collapse and RCB ended up losing by eight runs, to the despair of the home fans at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

However, Kohli produced a host of memorable innings in the 2016 IPL campaign, finishing the season with 973 runs from 640 balls, with four centuries and seven fifties.

Only three other players - De Villiers, Quinton de Kock and Steve Smith - scored even one IPL century that season.

King Kohli's tally of 973 runs remains a record for a single IPL season, well clear of Shubman Gill's 890 in 2023 and Jos Buttler's 863 a year earlier.