- Saturday, March 01, 2025
The former India captain added 172 runs with his opening partner and RCB captain Faf du Plessis to make the victory look a cakewalk against SRH.
By: Shubham Ghosh
Virat Kohli made his intent of helping Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to reach their first Indian Premier League (IPL) crown this season became clear once again on Thursday (18) when he slammed a brisk hundred against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
The ace batter hit 100 off 63 balls to lay the foundation for Bangalore’s thumping eight-wicket win over their opponents after they were set a target of 187 in 20 overs. Kohli, who hit his sixth hundred in the IPL and the first since 2019, equalled his former RCB teammate Chris Gayle for the most tons in the tournament. He reached his century with a flicked six over mid on off the bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar who also picked his wicket.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri has this advice for Virat Kohli about T20 batting
Kohli hit 12 fours and four sixes in his hundred
Kohli, who opened the innings with captain Faf du Plessis who hit 71 off 47 balls, started off with two consecutive boundaries against Kumar. The duo, which have put up some successful partnerships in IPL 2023, added 172 runs for the first wicket to make it a cakewalk.
Bangalore though lost both quickly towards the end but Glenn Maxwell (five not out) and Michael Bracewell (four not out) ensured that they did not lose the plot. RCB, who have never won the IPL since its inception in 2008 and finished as the runners-up thrice, won with four balls to spare and jumped to the fourth position in the points table (14 points off 13 matches), pipping Mumbai Indians on a better net run rate. Their final game is against table toppers Gujarat Titans on Sunday (21).
Four of Kohli’s six hundreds had come in the record-breaking 2016 season when he plundered 973 runs, the highest by any player in an edition. Bangalore reached the final that year but lost narrowly to Hyderabad in the final.
This year, too, Kohli has been in good touch and has accumulated 538 runs so far in 13 matches. His previous best in this edition was 94 not out.
Thursday’s win was also a revenge of sort.
Hyderabad, who have crashed out of the tournament and are languishing at the bottom of the points table, posted 186 for 5 in 20 overs after Bangalore won the toss and asked them to bat. Wicket-keeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen slammed 104 off 51 balls to take his team to a comfortable total until Kohli’s heroics eclipsed him.
