Under the shimmering floodlights and in front of a roaring partisan crowd, Virat Kohli unleashed his latest masterclass, blasting a 42-ball 70 to guide Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a sensational 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday.
It was RCB’s first home win of the season, having lost their previous three outings at the Chinnaswamy fortress.
Put in to bat first, RCB started off cautiously as RR new-ball pair of Jofra Archer and Fazalhaq Farooqi kept a tight line, offering no freebies to Kohli and his opening partner Phil Salt.
Kohli got a lucky boundary off the fifth ball of the opening over bowled by Archer, as he swung hard and got a thick edge that ran away to the boundary.
In Archer’s second over, he got another boundary, this time too off a thick inside edge beating the fielder at fine leg.
Most Runs against RR
After living dangerously, Kohli got into his groove with an audacious pull off a 145-kph delivery from Archer, and thereafter he started timing the ball perfectly, resulting in elegant cover drives and deft placements for singles and boundaries.
By the time Kohli got out in the 16th over, he, in the company of Devdutt Padikkal, had taken RCB past the 150-mark.
His 70-run knock contained eight boundaries and two sixes. It was his first half-century at home this season in four innings, after managing just 30 runs in three earlier innings at this ground.
In the meantime, the star batter surpassed Pakistan’s Babar Azam, registering the highest number of half-centuries while batting first in T20 cricket.
This is Kohli's 62nd fifty while batting first in T20s, overtaking Babar, who has 61.
He was dismissed by Archer -- losing his wicket to the English pacer for the first time in T20s -- after scoring 103 in 11 innings and 80 balls, at a strike rate of 128.75. He has smashed 12 fours and three sixes against Archer in T20 cricket.
Kohli overtakes Babar
Kohli has climbed to the second spot in the Orange Cap race, with 392 runs in nine matches at an average of 65.33, a strike rate of 144.11, with five half-centuries.
Kohli and Padikkal also became the most prolific pair of IPL 2025.
The duo added 95 runs in 51 balls for the second wicket, for a total of 426 runs as a pair. Their partnership played a crucial role in RCB posting 205/5 in their 20 overs.
They went past the Gujarat Titans pairing of England wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler and Sai Sudharsan (352 runs) and the Lucknow Super Giants combo of Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran (303 runs).
Before this match against RR, Kohli-Paddikal had partnerships of 20 runs (against Kolkata Knight Riders), 31 runs (against Chennai Super Kings), 91 runs (against Mumbai Indians), three runs (against Delhi Capitals), 83 runs (against Rajasthan Royals), and 103 runs against Punjab Kings (PBKS) this season.
Photographs: BCCI
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