The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) scripted one of the dominating victories in the IPL 2023, defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 8 wickets on May 18 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad.
RCB’s opening pair – Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli – has been the most successful this season and on Thursday night, they took their partnership a notch higher. The duo stitched a 172-run stand in the chase of 187 which is now the highest opening wicket stand this season.
More importantly, the Kohli-Du Plessis pair has scored 872 runs in 13 games in the IPL 2023.
Virat Kohli hit his first IPL hundred since 2019 and equaled the record of Chris Gayle for most tons - 6 in league history. While the former scored 100 runs off 63 balls, the RCB captain made 71 off 47 deliveries, with the help of 2 sixes and 7 boundaries.
Earlier, SRH had made 186/5 in 20 overs, with Heinrich Klaasen making his maiden IPL ton- 104 in 51 balls with 8 fours and 6 sixes.
In a video posted on iplt20.com, Kohli revealed that Faf du Plessis predicted that he will get a hundred in Hyderabad.
“Just before went into bat, Faf said, ‘I’ve got a gut feeling that one of the top three is going to get a hundred’. I said if the odds over someone getting a century, it looks like you, given the way you are batting. He said, ‘I think, it’s you’. So, you called it. I never felt like, it’s going to happen so quickly in 2-3 over’s time. But I’m happier about the fact that we got a decent start. 172 on the board, that partnership set things nicely for us and this is exactly what we play for,” Kohli said.
“I’ve batting in the nets, but I couldn’t really bring that game to the surface, in the middle, and I felt this pitch was nice with the new ball especially from me to get going as I had in the first 8-9 games. I wanted to pick my game at that stage because you and Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) have taken the game to another level. So, I wanted to join in and make an impact as well,” he added.
Speaking about his partnership throughout the season, Kohli said he has enjoyed batting with Faf a lot. He also mentioned that he feels the same connect that he had with AB de Villiers until 2021.
“Batting with you has always been amazing. I’ve always watched you perform really well in T20 cricket but for me, this has been your best T20 season across any competition. And I hope that continues” Kohli said.
Here is the video:
Meanwhile, RCB will face GT at home in Bengaluru in the final IPL 2023 league match, which they need to win to make it into playoffs.
