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Watch: Virat Kohli smashes sixth IPL hundred in classic chase against Sunrisers

Virat Kohli IPL 100 - Watch highlights of Kohli's 100 against Hyderabad in SRH vs RCB match in IPL 2023
by Wisden Staff 2 minute read

Watch: Virat Kohli scored his sixth IPL century last night (May 18), scoring 100 off 63 balls and taking his side to victory in a run-chase of 187 against Hyderabad – Here are the highlights from his special knock which had everyone bowing in respect.

Batting first, Hyderabad had notched up 186 on the back of Heinrich Klaasen’s superlative hundred. On a pitch that was gripping a bit for the spinners, the score looked daunting, especially given the fact that RCB had not chased a total in excess of 180 since IPL 2019.

RCB needed to maximise the powerplay and that is exactly what Kohli and Faf du Plessis did. Kohli came out with positive intent, hitting two boundaries off the first two balls of the innings against Bhuvneshwar Kumar – one a picture-perfect square drive, and another an aerial backfoot punch over point. That set the tone for the rest of the innings.

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Hyderabad bowled a left-arm spinner in the second over given Kohli’s deficiencies against that particular type of bowling. However, he was in no mood to spare anyone as he hit two more fours in the second over, making it just the third time in his entire IPL career that he had hit four or more boundaries inside the first two overs of the innings.

By the time the powerplay ended, Kohli had already raced to 29 off 19 balls. With Faf going great guns at the other end, Kohli did his thing in the middle overs, rotating the strike and punishing the bad balls. He even brought out the slog sweep, a shot which he seemed to have abandoned of late, against Mayank Dagar, a left-arm spinner.

Kohli brought up his fifty in 35 balls and soon came his trademark acceleration. In his last 23 balls, he scored 45 runs, playing classy square drives, inside-out check-drives over cover, flicks, and pulls. He reached his hundred with a wristy flick over mid-wicket for six.

Kohli was dismissed off the very next ball, but not before he had done the damage and brought the equation down to a very gettable 15 off 13 balls. His knock was met with widespread adulation from everyone present, including his own teammates, the opposition players, and the Hyderabad crowd.

RCB eventually won the game with four balls to spare.

Watch Virat Kohli’s sixth IPL hundred here:

To bet on the IPL with our Match Centre partners bet365, head here.

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