RAIPUR, India (AP) 鈥� Virat Kohli marked his record-breaking appearance with an unbeaten century off 58 balls to lead defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the top of Indian Premier League with a six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.
Kohli, who came into the game with back-to-back ducks against Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants, hit a fluent 105 with 11 fours and three sixes in Bengaluru鈥檚 authoritative run-chase of 194-4 in 19.1 overs.
鈥淐entury or no century, the more important thing is to finish the game,鈥� Kohli said. 鈥淭here is a reason people say pressure is a privilege — it keeps you humble. 鈥� A couple of games that do not go your way, you feel a bit of nervousness and that helps you.鈥�
Angkrish Raghuvanshi third half century of the season (71) and an unbeaten 49 by Rinku Singh had lifted Kolkata to 192-4 after Bengaluru’s first game at their second home was delayed for 45 minutes by rain and a wet outfield.
Raghuvanshi smashed three sixes and seven fours before he was run out on the final ball of the innings as the left-hander featured in two productive half-century stand with Cameron Green (32) and Singh, who hit three fours and two sixes in his 29-ball knock.
But Kohli’s record-breaking 279th IPL game, surpassing the previous record held by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma and his ninth hundred in the competition propelled Bengaluru to the No. 1 spot with 16 points. With two more league games in hand Bengaluru are now firm favorites to qualify for the playoffs.
Kohli also became the quickest batter to complete 14,000 runs in T20s in 409 innings as he went past West Indian Chris Gayle鈥檚 record of 423 innings.
鈥淚 just love batting, even after all this,鈥� Kohli said. 鈥淲hat an honor to be competing at this level and against the very best still. Just give my heart and soul out there because it is going to finish one day.鈥�
A sixth defeat in 11 games left Kolkata with nine points and in danger of missing out on the playoffs.
Kohli controlled the chase with impact player Devdutt Padikkal, who scored 39 off 27 balls. Kolkata, one of the top side this season in the field, dropped catches from both batters in the 20s before they went on to share a match-winning 92-run stand.
Rovman Powell couldn鈥檛 hold on to an overhead catch of Kohli in the power play at short cover and Vaibhav Arora missed a sitter at deep backward square leg when Padikkal was on 22.
Kohli was not overawed by the two successive ducks and lived up to his reputation of scoring big while chasing as he started by smashing four boundaries from the first six balls he faced.
Kohli drove Arora鈥檚 first full pitched ball to midwicket boundary and then rounded off the over by smashing three boundaries. Jacob Bethell (15) didn鈥檛 hold back and welcomed Saurabh Dubey with two fours and a six as Bengaluru sped to 36-0 in three overs.
Kartik Tyagi surprised Bethell with a sharp bouncer and held on to an easy return catch but Padikkal showed aggression against both the pace and spin of Sunil Narine before Kohli raised his half century off 32 balls in the 10th over.
Both batters kept Narine at bay in the middle overs before Padikkal got caught at extra cover in the 14th over. But Kohli kept on accelerating from the other end before Narine got his only wicket of the final ball of his spell when Rajat Patidar was caught by Rahane at extra cover.
Kohli raised his hundred in the 19th over with a single of Arora鈥檚 full toss before Jitesh Sharma rounded off Bengaluru鈥檚 commanding chase with a winning boundary of Dubey.
鈥淲e thought 190 was a competitive total,鈥� Kolkata captain Ajiknya Rahane said. 鈥淭hat (dropped) catch of Kohli 鈥� I felt was the difference. While chasing a total, Virat is a dangerous player.鈥�
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