RR against RCB: Virat Kohli scores his first century in the IPL 2024 and makes a significant T20 World Cup declaration
IPL 2024, RR vs. RCB: In Jaipur, Virat Kohli demonstrated his ability to read the situation and adjust his game to suit it, becoming the first centurion of the new campaign. In T20 cricket, it was Kohli's ninth three-figure score and his eighth hundred in the IPL.
Ankush Pandey
INTRO
- In the RCB vs. Rajasthan match, Virat Kohli scored 113 runs off 72 balls.
- It was Kohli's eighth IPL century and his ninth T20 century.
- It marked Kohli's first consecutive season of hundreds in the IPL.
On Saturday, April 6, Virat Kohli, the previous captain of the Royal Challenge Bangalore, delighted the crowd at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur with a well-paced knock against RR to become the first century of the IPL 2024 season. As he expertly read the circumstances, Kohli reached the three-figure mark in just 67 balls, giving RCB a respectable total against the 2008 champions. Virat Kohli's 8 IPL century was a record-breaking one.
Virat Kohli achieved a century in back-to-back IPL seasons for the first time. During a record-breaking season in 2016, Kohli hit four hundreds, one in 2019 and two in 2023. Before the T20 World Cup, Kohli let his bat do the talking on the big stage of the IPL 2024 season, starting the season on a high note with three fifty-plus scores, including a hundred, in only five innings.
Additionally, Virat Kohli became the first centurion of an IPL season for the first time with this. In order to assist RCB reach 183, Kohli persisted and finished undefeated at 113, not out in 72 balls. In Jaipur on Saturday, Kohli scored nearly 60% of RCB's total with four sixes and twelve boundaries.
Notably, it was also the joint slowest 3-figure performance in the IPL and the slowest IPL hundred on Indian soil.
Kohli had a career-best score of just 39 at Jaipur prior to Saturday, but he transformed Sawai Mansingh Stadium into his own with a masterpiece in T20 inning construction. Trent Boult, a left-arm bowler, and Yuzvendra Chahal, a former RCB teammate, were defeated by Kohli. In the last over of the leg-spinner, Kohli struck a massive six and grinned, signaling to the bowler that he had won their little duel.
MOST HUNDREDS IN IPL
- Virat Kohli - 8 in 242 matches
- Chris Gayle - 7 in 142 matches
- Jos Buttler - 5 in 100 matches
In the IPL 2024, Virat Kohli has amassed about 40% of RCB's run total. Even though players like Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis haven't been able to score runs yet, the former captain has been putting in a lot of effort for the club.
In the run-up to the IPL 2024 season, Kohli's possible inclusion in the T20 World Cup team was questioned; nevertheless, he proved his doubters wrong with his 8 IPL century. Even more, Kohli blasted his detractors, claiming that his name was being used for publicity and that he still had what it takes to succeed in Twenty20 cricket.
In January of 2023, Kohli, who had not played Twenty20 international cricket before, rejoined the Indian team for a three-match series against Afghanistan. During the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022, Kohli was notably India's top run scorer.
