Virat Kohli’s superhuman effort helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to register a win against Kolkata Knight Riders at Kolkata. The star Indian batsman played a majestic knock of 100 off just 58 balls.
A possessed man, gaze fixed, his brain processing things faster than you can is at one end. He can out-think you. He makes you wonder if you’re in the right profession. And there you are at the other end, 22 yards away. You have your weapon, weighing 5.75 ounces. You are assessing ways to beat him. But he is a few steps ahead of you. As the bowler, the world feels sorry for you.
Banking on Kohli’s yet another master-class, RCB posted a mammoth 213 on the board and won the match by a 10 runs. The 30 year-old Indian Captain’s phenomenal run continues as he is breaking records left, right and center in virtually every match.
Moeen Ali, meanwhile, bludgeoned a 28-ball 66 (4×5, 6×6), as the pair added 90 runs for the third wicket off just 43 balls.
After Ali’s dismissal, Kohli joined hands with Marcus Stoinis (17* off 8) for a 64-run fourth wicket partnership as the visitors amassed 143 runs in the last 10 overs to flatten the home team.
Kohli took 40 balls to get to his first fifty. His next fifty took just 17 balls, taking the KKR bowlers to the cleaners in the final overs. RCB were in command, getting to an imposing 213/4 to put them on course to only their second win in the tournament.
While Kohli was 5 runs away from the century, Gurney ran in for the penultimate ball, Kohli shuffled across the stumps and whipped it towards square leg. Kuldeep Yadav, stationed between fine leg and square leg ran across to cut it, only to see the ball go through his fingers and into the boundary.
The moment had finally arrived and Kohli was already mid-air. Leaping in the air with his helmet in one hand, all the emotions up until this moment steaming out at this precious moment.
While it was a personal landmark for the champion batsman, it was of much more importance to a faltering RCB side, devoid of motivation all through the season. Yet, in the form of a Kohli masterclass, the Royal Challengers had 213/4 on the board and more importantly, some much needed momentum.
The Indian captain’s latest masterclass, as always, found him breaking a slew of records. This was also his fifth hundred as a captain; four of those came in the historic 2016 season.
The Knight Riders did manage to make a contest out of it with Nitish Rana and Andre Russell taking it all the way till the last over, but in the end, Virat Kohli’s wave of authority in the game stole all the headlines
RCB need to win every game from here to stand a chance of getting to the playoffs. With Kohli in the mood, sky is the limit for the three-time finalists.