Former Royal Challengers Bangalore‘s captain Virat Kohli scored his 48th Indian Premier League half-century against Punjab Kings in Mohali. Kohli was captaining the side as well because of captain Faf du Plessis‘ injury issues. du Plessis opened the innings with Kohli, but the impact player replaced him while fielding.
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Kohli possesses a decent record in Mohali, he was looking in solid from the very first ball. In the second over, he played a brilliant cover drive on Punjab’s spinner Harpreet Brar‘s delivery, which was his first boundary of the match.
However, Kohli played a second-fiddle to du Plessis, who was smashing the bowlers from the other end. On the last ball of the 14th over, Kohli played a brilliant cover drive against pacer Arshdeep Singh to complete his fifty. He got out on the first ball of the 17th over, where Brar took his wicket. Kohli tried to paddle the ball, but wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma took a brilliant catch.
☑️ 36th Fifty as RCB Captain
☑️ 48th Fifty in IPL
☑️ 4th Fifty this seasonCaptain Kohli 🫡#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 #PBKSvRCB @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/VTbZRRRtLZ
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 20, 2023
Virat Kohli Fifties in IPL History
Kohli could not score a single half-century in the inaugural edition of IPL. Interestingly, he scored his initial three half-centuries against Deccan Chargers. He scored four fifties in 2014 and six in 2013. 2016 was the best season for Kohli, where he broke all sorts of records.
It is tough to imagine if someone will be able to replicate what Kohli did in 2016. He scored 973 runs at an astonishing average of 81.08 with the help of seven half-centuries and four centuries.
With his 48th fifty, Kohli is just behind Delhi Capitals’ captain David Warner (58) and Punjab Kings‘ captain Shikhar Dhawan (49) in the list of most IPL half-centuries.
Virat Kohli IPL half-century full list
| S No. | Opponent | Score | Year | Venue |
| 1 | Deccan Chargers | 50 (32) | 2009 | Cape Town |
| 2 | Deccan Chargers | 58 (35) | 2010 | Bengaluru |
| 3 | Deccan Chargers | 71 (51) | 2011 | Hyderabad |
| 4 | Delhi Daredevils | 56 (38) | 2011 | Delhi |
| 5 | Pune Warriors | 67 (42) | 2011 | Bengaluru |
| 6 | Chennai Super Kings | 70* (44) | 2011 | Mumbai |
| 7 | Chennai Super Kings | 57 (46) | 2012 | Chennai |
| 8 | Delhi Daredevils | 73* (53) | 2012 | Delhi |
| 9 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 93* (47) | 2013 | Bengaluru |
| 10 | Chennai Super Kings | 58 (47) | 2013 | Chennai |
| 11 | Delhi Daredevils | 65 (50) | 2013 | Bengaluru |
| 12 | Delhi Daredevils | 99 (58) | 2013 | Delhi |
| 13 | Kings XI Punjab | 57 (43) | 2013 | Bengaluru |
| 14 | Chennai Super Kings | 56* (29) | 2013 | Bengaluru |
| 15 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 67 (41) | 2014 | Hyderabad |
| 16 | Chennai Super Kings | 73 (49) | 2014 | Bengaluru |
| 17 | Chennai Super Kings | 51 (42) | 2015 | Bengaluru |
| 18 | Rajasthan Royals | 62 (46) | 2015 | Ahmedabad |
| 19 | Mumbai Indians | 82* (50) | 2015 | Mumbai |
| 20 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 75 (51) | 2016 | Bengaluru |
| 21 | Delhi Daredevils | 79 (48) | 2016 | Bengaluru |
| 22 | Rising Pune Supergiants | 80 (63) | 2016 | Pune |
| 23 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 52 (44) | 2016 | Bengaluru |
| 24 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 75* (51) | 2016 | Kolkata |
| 25 | Delhi Daredevils | 54* (45) | 2016 | Raipur |
| 26 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 54 (35) | 2016 | Bengaluru |
| 27 | Mumbai Indians | 62 (47) | 2017 | Bengaluru |
| 28 | Gujarat Lions | 64 (50) | 2017 | Rajkot |
| 29 | Rising Pune Supergiants | 55 (48) | 2017 | Pune |
| 30 | Delhi Daredevils | 58 (45) | 2017 | Delhi |
| 31 | Rajasthan Royals | 57 (30) | 2018 | Bengaluru |
| 32 | Mumbai Indians | 92* (62) | 2018 | Mumbai |
| 33 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 68* (44) | 2018 | Bengaluru |
| 34 | Delhi Daredevils | 70 (40) | 2018 | Delhi |
| 35 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 84 (49) | 2019 | Bengaluru |
| 36 | Kings XI Punjab | 67 (53) | 2019 | Mohali |
| 37 | Rajasthan Royals | 72* (53) | 2020 | Abu Dhabi |
| 38 | Chennai Super Kings | 90* (52) | 2020 | Dubai |
| 39 | Chennai Super Kings | 50 (43) | 2020 | Dubai |
| 40 | Rajasthan Royals | 72* (47) | 2021 | Mumbai |
| 41 | Chennai Super Kings | 53 (41) | 2021 | Sharjah |
| 42 | Mumbai Indians | 51 (42) | 2021 | Dubai |
| 43 | Gujarat Titans | 58 (53) | 2022 | Mumbai (Brabourne) |
| 44 | Gujarat Titans | 73 (55) | 2022 | Mumbai |
| 45 | Mumbai Indians | 82* (49) | 2023 | Bengaluru |
| 46 | Lucknow Super Giants | 61 (44) | 2023 | Bengaluru |
| 47 | Delhi Capitals | 50 (34) | 2023 | Bengaluru |
| 48 | Punjab Kings | 59 (47) | 2023 | Mohali |
