On This Day: Virat Kohli scored fifth IPL century vs KKR at Eden Gardens

Virat Kohli scored fifth IPL century: Royal Challengers captain registered a match-winning knock away from home at the Eden Gardens.

On this day in 2019, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli registered his fifth century in the Indian Premier League during the 35th match of the 12th season against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata.

Opening the batting with wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel (11) after KKR captain Dinesh Karthik won the toss and chose to bowl, Kohli hit his first boundary off Knight Riders all-rounder Sunil Narine on the delivery after Patel walked back to the pavilion.

Having got his first four on the back of a mis-field by Shubman Gill, Kohli was lucky enough to hit another boundary off his outside edge off KKR seamer Prasidh Krishna in the last over of the powerplay. That being said, Kohli also showed signs of getting his eye in as he hit Krishna for a six in the same over.

Kohli’s first stamp of dominance came in the eighth over when he hit two boundaries against Kolkata spinner Kuldeep Yadav. It was at this point in time that all-rounder Moeen Ali (66) had joined Kohli in the middle and the duo had started working towards a match-winning 90-run partnership for the third wicket.

Kohli, who slowed down as Ali was calling the shots from the other end, completed his half-century in the 15th over. After Yadav sent back Ali in the following over, Kohli took the onus on himself to finish the innings for RCB.

Virat Kohli scored fifth IPL century

In the next two overs, Kohli hit two fours and a six off KKR seamer Harry Gurney and a six of Narine. Marching closer to his century, Kohli continued his flurry of boundaries. It was on the penultimate delivery of the innings that Kohli’s flick was mis-fielded by Yadav at the boundary as the visiting captain completed his century.

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Having got out on the last delivery, Kohli scored 100 (58) with the help of nine fours and four sixes as RCB ended up scoring 213/4 in 20 overs.

Despite reducing the hosts to 79/4 in the 12th over, Royal Challengers only managed a 10-run victory as a 118-run partnership between Nitish Rana (85*) and Andre Russell (65) almost sealed the chase for Kolkata.