Virat Kohli Ends Four Year Wait To Register Sixth IPL Century
This was Kohli's first century in the ongoing season; he equalled former teammate Chris Gayle for most three-figure scores in the league (
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Royal Challengers Thursday marked the conclusion of Virat Kohli's four-year wait for an Indian Premier League century, as he smashed the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers all over the field to reach his sixth hundred of the tournament. This was Kohli's first century of the current season; he is tied with Chris Gayle for the most centuries in the league with six. On Thursday night, the RCB opener, who had been in good form but was under scrutiny for his slow starts, disproved his detractors by reaching his century in 62 deliveries.
The RCB star's wicket was taken by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 18th over, exactly one run after he reached the century mark. Kohli was ultimately dismissed on 100, immediately after reaching the milestone.
Heinrich Klaasen in SRH vs RCB tie. Kohli's last century in the league came during the 2019 edition of the league in a match against Kolkata Knight Riders; he had also scored 100 on that occasion.
All of the 34-year-old batsman's first 16 runs came from fours; he struck two off the first two deliveries of the RCB innings against Bhuvneshwar, and then smashed spinner Abhishek Sharma and left-arm pacer T Natarajan for two more fours. Kohli capitalized on the powerplay by collecting 32 runs off 20 deliveries within the first six overs.
The batsman ultimately reached fifty in 36 balls and forged an outstanding partnership with captain Faf du Plessis, who has been in superb form this season.
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After reaching fifty runs, Kohli appeared intent on reaching the century mark; in the fifteenth over of the innings, he faced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and hit him for four fours in five deliveries. With the target in sight, Kohli rotated the strike with ease and reached 100 runs in spectacular fashion by blasting a full delivery from Bhuvneshwar over deep midwicket for six.
Kohli failed to clear the deep midwicket region on this occasion and was caught by Glenn Phillips off the very next delivery as he attempted to swiftly finish off the chase. The RCB was able to chase down the target with eight wickets to spare, bolstering their chances of qualifying for the playoffs this season.
