Virat Kohli slammed an unbeaten 83 off 59 balls, which included four fours and four sixes against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Bengaluru: Virat Kohli surpassed former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) teammate Chris Gayle to climb on top of the list for most sixes by an RCB batter after his 83 not out against Kolkata Knight Riders at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday. During his knock which came in 59 balls, Kohli hit four sixes and four fours and kept the scoreboard ticking. Kohli, currently has 242 sixes to his name, pushing Gayle (239) to second in the list. AB de Villiers (238) is the third on the list.
Kohli’s fifty formed the foundation of RCB’s competitive 182/6 and milked 65 runs off 42 balls for the second wicket with Cameron Green (33 off 21 balls) after skipper Faf du Plessis went back early. Kohli dished out drives and lofts over covers, a new addition to his batting, sweeps and slog-sweep to fetch his runs, but the shot of the night was a swat-flick off Starc that sailed for a six.
In fact, no other shot really encapsulates Kohli’s batting like the swat-flick – a child of his desire to find newer ways to sustain the domination of bowlers. A simple snap of wrists and power emanating from a strong bottom hand can turn this traditionally gentle shot into a malevolent run-making option.
Kohli brought his fifty in 36 balls whereas other batters, except Green, generally struggled for momentum and timing. Glenn Maxwell, who was dropped twice on 11 and 21, en route a 19-ball 28 could not exploit the largesse of KKR fielders as his luck finally ran out against Narine. An archetypal Dinesh Karthik cameo (20, 8b, 3×6) added gravitas to the RCB total as usual towards the end.
Earlier, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl against hosts RCB. KKR have made one change with left-arm spinner Anukul Roy coming in and also handed a debut IPL cap to 18-year-old top-order batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi. RCB, on the other hand, went with the same playing XI.
RCB vs KKR Playing XIs
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Cameron Green, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Anuj Rawat (w), Dinesh Karthik, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Philip Salt (w), Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc, Anukul Roy, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy.