Virat Kohli emerged from a difficult run of form in the last two games with an elegant unbeaten hundred as Royal Challengers Bengaluru secured a comfortable six-wicket victory against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL encounter at Raipur on Wednesday. While pursuing a target of 193, Kohli hammered an unbeaten 105 from 60 deliveries, featuring 11 fours and three maximums, and forged a crucial 92-run stand for the second wicket with Devdutt Padikkal (37 from 27 balls) to steer RCB home with five balls to spare. After this triumph, RCB moved to the summit of the points table with 16 points, tied with Gujarat Titans but superior on net run rate. Previously, KKR wicketkeeper-batsman Angkrish Raghuvanshi steadied the innings with an impressive 71 as his team managed a challenging 192/4. Virat Kohli’s ton propels RCB to league leaders position.
TOSS-
Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the toss and chose to bowl first.
PLAYING XI –
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI):
Ajinkya Rahane(c), Finn Allen, Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (Playing XI):
Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Tim David, Venkatesh Iyer, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rasikh Salam Dar, Jacob Duffy, Josh Hazlewood
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS-
Captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and declared “clearly we’d prefer to bowl first”, a decision influenced by how the Raipur surface had behaved against MI and the luxury of having four genuine pace bowlers after recalling Jacob Duffy for Romario Shepherd. Duffy’s comeback, however, started badly as Finn Allen attacked him aggressively. This left Bhuvneshwar Kumar with the routine job of dismissing KKR’s attacking opener. After being driven through the off side initially, Bhuvneshwar pitched slightly fuller in the good length area, discovered a touch of seam movement, and drew the edge to dismiss Allen (18 from 8) for his 13th powerplay scalp this season. Despite this, KKR’s opening pair collected 10 boundaries during the first six overs with Duffy conceding 31 runs in his two powerplay spells, indicating the pitch wasn’t as challenging as it had been earlier.
Raghuvanshi plays a crucial role at number three in this KKR batting order and has enjoyed a consistent, though not spectacular, campaign with three half-centuries before this match. Today’s performance showcased his technique and a standout feature was his patience in timing his shots and playing as late as possible. He anticipated the short deliveries but when the length wasn’t ideal, he converted pulls into controlled jabs. He struck boundaries on both sides of the wicket and also confronted the solitary spinner, Krunal Pandya, employing sweeps and an elegant inside-out drive over extra cover for six. Following Rahane’s dismissal to a Josh Hazlewood bouncer, Raghuvanshi constructed a 68-run partnership from 46 balls with Cameron Green, maintaining KKR’s momentum during the middle phase.
For a team sitting at three wickets down entering the death overs, KKR would have anticipated more than the 51 runs they accumulated in the closing five overs. However, four of those overs were delivered by Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood, who executed their strategies perfectly and bowled disciplined lines. Significantly, just one boundary emerged in each of the final four overs. Rinku Singh instead exploited the expansive square boundaries, consistently working singles into twos and running aggressively – he gathered seven doubles overall. He controlled the 76-run partnership with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, but after preventing his partner a single earlier in the final over, the alliance concluded on the last delivery when Raghuvanshi was dismissed run out while attempting another second that would have completed Rinku’s half-century.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU-
It marked his first appearance in the tournament since April 30. KKR newcomer Saurabh Dubey started with a disciplined over to Jacob Bethell and Kohli, but once Kohli found his groove, he returned to form immediately. Vaibhav Arora erred in his line and suffered as Kohli struck four boundaries in one over. He escaped dismissal on 21 when Rovman Powell dropped a difficult chance at cover, but by the powerplay’s conclusion, Kohli had accelerated to 30 from 14 balls with a six included and regular service had resumed.
As they have managed in numerous other run chases this season, Kohli and Padikkal maintained RCB’s position ahead of the required rate. Padikkal gained a lifeline when Arora dropped a straightforward catch at deep square leg. Given that RCB had scored 66 in the powerplay and were ahead of the asking rate, they could negotiate Narine without unnecessary risks. The unavailability of Varun CV – sidelined with injury – left KKR lacking penetration through the middle period with Anukul Roy and Cameron Green conceding 43 from their combined four overs. The duo added 92 from 59 balls to increase their partnership tally to 462 runs at an average of 66.
when Kohli entered his chasing rhythm. Yet there were some bright moments. When Padikkal departed, RCB required 64 from 41 balls and newcomer Rajat Patidar appeared uncomfortable against short-pitched bowling again and even received a quick delivery from Kartik Tyagi on his helmet. But Kohli continued discovering boundaries with pinpoint accuracy. Rahane introduced left-arm spinner Anukul with 36 needed from four overs, but he pulled a short ball for four and then beautifully lifted one straight over the bowler for six. All that remained at that over’s end was to observe if and when he would reach his century. He achieved the milestone from the 58th delivery, reached 14,000 T20 runs (fastest to the landmark) and departed unbeaten in a successful chase as he had accomplished numerous times throughout his career.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 192/4 in 20 overs [Angkrish Raghuvanshi 71 (46), Rinku Singh 49* (29); Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1-34] lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 194/4 in 19.1 overs [Virat Kohli 105* (60), Devdutt Padikkal 39 (27); Kartik Tyagi 3-32] by six wickets.
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