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 Gujarat Titans (GT) at M on Saturday Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru (May 4).
Royal Challengers Bengaluru recorded their fourth win of IPL 2024 as they defeated the opposition by four wickets. It was a great performance from them with the ball as they defeated Gujarat Titans by just 147 runs on a pitch where 170-180 looked like a par score.
But after that, Virat Kohli stole the limelight with his brutal knock in the Powerplay. It is fair to say that he, along with captain Faf du Plessis, took the game away from the opposition in the powerplay and put the Gujarat Titans bowlers under pressure at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Virat Kohli started the game brilliantly as he hit two sixes in the first over and he didn’t look back after that. He also hit debutant Manav Suthar for two consecutive sixes in the 5th over. He achieved this massive feat with four sixes for the first time in his T20 career.
It was the first time that Virat Kohli hit four sixes in a powerplay in an innings in 387 T20 matches. The batsman was at his best in the first six overs and made no mistake, which helped his team score big runs in the early stages of the game.
On the other hand, Faf du Plessis didn’t take a step back as he too attacked the Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowlers and hit them all over the park. He scored his half-century and ended with an innings of 63 runs, 23 balls, 10 fours and 3 sixes.
Virat Kohli, who scored 42 runs, and Faf du Plessis added 92 runs for the opening partnership. What was amazing, however, was that everything came about on the power play. It also helped them make history in the league as they posted their highest power play score ever.
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 vs DC, 2024
105/0 – KKR vs RCB, 2017
100/2 – CSK vs 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 batted and tried to play the way we play – Faf du Plessis
Faf du Plessis spoke about the batting performance after the game and explained that it was important that they didn’t look at the scorecard and started the way they wanted to. 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 batting and tried to play the way we play overall quickly to increase the NRR, but we probably needed to calm down a bit when we were 4 points behind. he concluded.