Premier Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli was welcomed with memes and sarcastic comments on Twitter, now X, after he shattered a series of records during his team's clash with the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

 

 

In the match in Jaipur, Virat Kohli smashed a record-extending eighth Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday.

 

Virat Kohli completed his century in 67 balls and carried the bat through to an unbeaten 113, ending RCB's allocated 20 overs with the joint-slowest ton in the IPL. In 2009, out-of-favor Team India batter Manish Pandey scored his century in the same number of balls against the Deccan Chargers. 

 

Overall, he faced 72 balls during his innings – the third-highest in the Indian Premier League. 

 

New Zealander Brendon McCullum smashed an unbeaten 158 off 73 balls in the maiden IPL clash in 2008 while Manish Pandey needed 73 deliveries for his unbeaten 114 vs the Deccan Chargers the following year.

 

Interestingly, Virat Kohli became the first player to score more than 7500 runs in the IPL. His run tally for the RCB in the IPL now stands at 7579 runs. 

 

In addition to that, the Delhi-born cricketer has made 424 runs for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the now-defunct Champions League T20 tournament. Across the two events, Virat Kohli has scored 8003 runs for the RCB, making him the first player to compile that many runs for a single team in the T20 format.

 

It was Virat Kohli's ninth century in T20 cricket, having also slammed one for Team India against Afghanistan during the Asia Cup in September 2022. Only two men have more tons in the 20-over format – Chris Gayle (22) and Babar Azam (10). 

 

Though Virat Kohli looked fluid from the word go, he did not explode initially, relying largely on rotating the strike and smashing an odd boundary whenever the Rajasthan Royals bowlers erred in their line and length. 

 

However, as his innings progressed, Virat Kohli grew in confidence and began hitting boundaries and sixes at will. 

 

But once, RCB captain and his opening partner Faf du Plessis fell for 44 in the 14th over after an opening stand of 125 runs, the onus came back on Virat Kohli to take his team to a fine total.

 

Virat Kohli grabbed the opportunity with both hands, delivering the goods in a challenging environment as he smacked 42 runs in his last 22 balls, with six boundaries and a maximum.

 

Unfortunately, for the 35-year-old batter, RCB's big names – Glenn Maxwell and Cameroon Green, famous for their explosive batting, failed to get going and that's why RCB was denied the late flourish that could have taken them to a total of 200.

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Virat Kohli's ton eventually went in vain as Rajasthan Royals batters, Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson's splendid knocks of 100 off 58 deliveries, and 69 off 42 balls, respectively, powered the home side to a six-wicket win at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

 

Cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra underlined that while Virat Kohli was scoring runs, his colleagues in the RCB dugout were not providing him the support he needed to take the side across the finish line.  

 

“Everyone said that this tournament has twists and thrillers. However, the Bengaluru guys are saying – ‘It's not the case with us. Neither are we able to win nor are we able to fight. We wanted Kohli to score runs, he is doing that, but no one else is able to score and whatever we score is not enough',” Aakash Chopra stated on his YouTube channel.

 

“What is happening? They have played five matches and lost four of them. The situation is very bad. They have changed their name but not their deeds. They are struggling, there is no doubt about that,” he elaborated.

 

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli described his knock as an innings of experience and maturity. 

“I'm not coming in with premeditation. I don't want to be over-aggressive, want to keep the bowler guessing. They want me to go hard and get me out,” he told the tournament's official broadcasters. 

 

“It's just experience and maturity. I play the conditions and have the game ready. Doesn't seem there's dew hope it's the same. Balls didn't come on to bad, felt you couldn't get under bat,” Virat Kohli summed up.