Virat Kohli gets new lotus sleeve tattoo ahead of RCB’s defending title season at IPL 2026, watch

Virat Kohli grows his tattoo collection with lotus addition ahead of RBC’s first match of IPL 2026.

Written by Ayushi Agrawal , Journalist

Published on Mar 27, 2026 | 02:07 PM IST | 1.6M

Virat Kohli: courtesy of Virat Kohli's Instagram

Indian cricketer Virat Kohli is letting his dreams fly big. The former captain of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru side has debuted a new arm sleeve ahead of his team’s season in the cricketing league this month. As shared by the tattoo studio, Aliens Tattoo, the ink is an amalgamation of multiple ideas that find their home on the star performer’s arm.

Virat Kohli adds new ink to arm sleeve

Ahead of the 2026 Indian Premier League starting on March 28, 2026, a new tattoo was revealed on Virat Kohli’s arm. A frequent tattoo lover, the cricketer has added an evolving sleeve ink, which is a part of a work-in-progress project on his hand.

While adding new touches to the already existing tattoos, some of the older ones, which had faded, and the others that had stood the test of time, had to be reworked. “Some parts needed to be covered. Some needed to be refined and restored. And much more needed to be added — with purpose. To take scattered fragments and transform them into a single, cohesive sleeve that flows as one," shared the artists about the cricketer’s arm ink.

Check out the transformation captured at one of the sessions below:

They confirmed that the tattoo is being developed over time and is not a standalone project. The batsman has been taking out time from his already packed schedule to get the work done on it. Multiple tattooists were seen working on the piece, which is said to be nowhere near completion, with multiple sessions still underway amid the artwork’s final look.

The newer Lotus is said to be a reflection of Virat’s own journey in the sports world. It represents the story of “a flower that rises from muddy waters, untouched by the filth it grows from, blooming with purity regardless of the environment it comes from”.

Meanwhile, team RCB gets on the field this Saturday to join Sun Risers Hyderabad in the first match of the season, where Kohli’s side aims to defend its debut title, which they gained after 18 years.

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