IPL 2023: Kohli, Faf power RCB to victory against SRH
A historic partnership between Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis powered Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. The duo shared a 150+ stand, helping the Royal Challengers chase down 187. Kohli himself reached the three-figure mark. Earlier, Heinrich Klaasen set the tone for SRH's innings.
How did the match pan out?
Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi got SRH off to a sluggish start after RCB elected to field. Klaasen, who came in next, controlled the second half of the innings. The South African batter was SRH's lone warrior, having slammed a riveting century. In response, Kohli and du Plessis shared a 172-run stand as RCB completed the victory in the final over.
A blistering knock from Kohli
Although Kohli has been in sublime form in IPL 2023, he was under the scanner for his strike rate in the middle overs. The former RCB skipper has now silenced his detractors with a blistering knock. Besides acing the powerplay overs, Kohli made merry during the middle overs. He raced to his century in the 18th over off 62 balls.
A record-breaking IPL century
Kohli has slammed his sixth IPL century, now the joint-most along with Chris Gayle. Interestingly, four of Kohli's century came in the 2016 IPL season wherein he shattered numerous records. His tally of 973 runs is the most by a batter in an IPL season. Kohli slammed seven half-centuries besides four tons in what turned out to be a record-breaking season.
His first IPL ton since April 2019
Kohli has smashed his first IPL century since April 2019. He slammed a 58-ball 100 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens Stadium in that season. Kohli has finally ended the wait tonight.
Klaasen reaches three figures in style
Klaasen, who came in at number four, played another rescuing knock for the Sunrisers. The former kept on smashing the RCB bowlers and completed his century off 49 balls. He brought up the three-figure mark with a maximum in the 19th over. Klaasen ended up scoring 104 off 51 balls, a knock laced with 8 fours and 6 sixes.
Klaasen completes 400 runs in IPL 2023
As stated, Klaasen became the only SRH batter with over 400 runs in IPL 2023 as of now. He averages more than 46 and has struck at over 172. The tally includes three 50+ scores.
Fourth batter with century for SRH
Klaasen has become just the fourth batter to have scored a century for the Orange Army in the IPL. David Warner (126 and 100), Jonny Bairstow (114), and Brook (100) are the others with this feat. Brook's knock came earlier in the season. This means Klaasen now has the third-highest individual score for SRH in the tournament.
