Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batsman Virat Kohli once again played a crucial role for his team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. He helped his team win the match against the Gujarat Titans (GT) at the stadium M Chinnaswamy from Bengaluru on Saturday. (May 4th).
Royal Challengers Bengaluru recorded their 4th win of IPL 2024 by defeating the opposition by 4 wickets. It was a magnificent effort from them with the ball as they defeated the Gujarat Titans for just 147 runs on a pitch, where 170-180 looked like a par score.
However, after that, Virat Kohli stole the show with his brutal batting in the powerplay. It is fair to say that he, along with captain Faf du Plessis, took the game away from the opposition within the powerplay and put pressure on the Gujarat Titans bowlers at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Virat Kohli started the proceedings on a high when he hit 2 sixes in the first over and then never looked back. He also hit debutant Manav Suthar for two consecutive sixes in the fifth over. Hitting four sixes, he achieved this huge feat for the first time in his T20 career.
It was for the first time that in 387 T20s, Virat Kohli smashed four sixes in a powerplay in an innings. The batsman was at his best in the first 6 overs and made no mistake, helping his team get big runs in the initial stage of the game.
At the other end, Faf du Plessis did not take a step back and also attacked the Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowlers and hit them all over the park. He brought up his half-century and finished with 63 innings off 23 balls with 10 fours and 3 sixes.
Virat Kohli, who scored 42 runs, and Faf du Plessis added 92 runs for the opening partnership. What was surprising, however, was that it all came about on the power play. It also helped them make league history as they recorded their highest score on the power play.
This was also the sixth-highest power play score in league history. Here is the complete list of highest powerplay scores in IPL:
125/0 – SRH v DC, 2024
105/0 – KKR v RCB, 2017
100/2 – CSK v PBKS, 2014
93/1 – PBKS vs KKR, 2024
92/2 – DC vs. MI, 2024
92/1 – RCB vs GT, today*
It was important that we didn’t look at the scoreboard when we went out to bat and tried to play the way we do – Faf du Plessis
Faf du Plessis after the match spoke about the batting performance and stated that it was important for them not to look at the scorecard and start as they wanted. He also admitted that they wanted to finish the game quickly to increase the NRR. He explained:
“It was important that we didn’t look at the scoreboard when we came out to bat and tried to play the way we do. I was a little nervous. It probably wasn’t the best assessment on our part. Yeah, we wanted to go out and get the goal.” “Totally quick to get the NRR up, but probably when we were down 4, we had to calm down a little bit.” He concluded.