Virat Kohli's sixth IPL century led the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a rather comfortable victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad. Kohli scored 100 runs off 63 balls and built a 172-run opening partnership with skipper Faf du Plessis. He was eventually dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but he did his job perfectly and RCB eventually won the game by eight wickets.
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This was Kohli's first IPL century since 2019. He equaled Chris Gayle's record for the most century in the history of this tournament. A number of former players and commentators expressed their admiration for what Kohli achieved. India batting great Sachin Tendulkar was one of them. He said that it was evident right from the early stages of the innings that it was going to be Kohli's day.
Sachin Tendulkar's tweet about Virat Kohli after his 6th IPL Century
"It was evident that this would be Virat's day from the very first ball when he played that cover drive. Virat and Faf both looked in total control, they not only played many big shots but also ran rather well between the wickets to build a successful partnership. 186 wasn't a big enough total for the way they both batted," said Tendulkar in his tweet.
Du Plessis scored 71 off 47 balls as RCB chased down a target of 187 with four balls to spare. SRH were led by their in-form batter Heinrich Klaasen scoring his first-ever IPL century. Klaasen scored 104 off 51 balls but he was almost a lone warrior as the rest of the SRH batters struggled. Kohli and Du Plessis, on the other hand, all but ended the chase with their opening partnership itself. Four of Kohli's previous five centuries had come in a single season in 2016. He scored 973 runs at a strike rate of 152.03 and an average of 81.08. Kohli then scored his fifth century in the 2019 season.