Royal Challengers Bangalore’s star batter Virat Kohli ended a four-year wait for an Indian Premier League century, smashing the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers all around the park to reach his sixth ton of the tournament on Thursday. This was Kohli’s first century in the ongoing season; he equalled former teammate Chris Gayle for most three-figure scores in the league (6). The RCB opener had been in solid touch but was under the scanner for his slow starts; however, he proved the doubters wrong on Thursday night, reaching his century in 62 deliveries.
Kohli’s last century in the league came during the 2019 edition of the league in a match against Kolkata Knight Riders; incidentally, he had scored 100 on that occasion as well.
The 34-year-old batter made an aggressive start to his innings; all of his first 16 runs in the innings came from boundaries; he hit two off the first two deliveries of the RCB innings against Bhuvneshwar, and smashed spinner Abhishek Sharma and left-arm pacer T Natarajan for another two fours. Kohli made the most of the powerplay, scoring 32 off 20 deliveries inside the first six overs.
The batter eventually raced to his fifty in 36 balls and all this while, stitched an excellent partnership with captain Faf du Plessis, who has been sublime form in the season.
Kohli shifted gears after reaching the fifty-run mark as he looked determined for three-figure mark; he took on Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 15th over of the innings, hitting the fellow India teammate for four fours in five balls. With target in sight, Kohli rotated the strike effortlessly and reached the 100-run mark in style, smashing a full delivery from Bhuvneshwar towards deep midwicket for a maximum.
The batter was dismissed off the very next delivery, however, as he aimed at quickly wrapping the chase up; Kohli failed to clear the deep midwicket area on this occasion, as he was caught by Glenn Phillips. The RCB, however, had little difficulty as they chased down the target with 8 wickets to spare, strengthening their bid for a playoff qualification in the season.