Virat Kohli, the pitcher for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), did everything he could to get his team into the IPL 2023 Playoffs on Sunday, but it wasn’t enough. Kohli made his seventh century in the T20 league, which is a record. However, it was Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill’s second hundred in a row that helped the defending champions beat RCB by six wickets in their final league match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and keep the home team from making the playoffs.
Since RCB lost, the Mumbai Indians, who beat Sunrisers Hyderabad earlier in the day, became the fourth team to enter after GT, Chennai Super Kings, and Lucknow Super Giants. Kohli had tears in his eyes at the end of the game after hitting a brilliant 101 off 61 balls with 13 fours and one six to help RCB reach 197 for 5. Gill then hit 104 off 52 balls to make it a GT with five balls to spare.
But after beating former West Indies star Chris Gayle’s record for most hundreds in IPL, Kohli said he is back to playing his best in T20 cricket again. “Ya, I felt great. Many people think that my T20 cricket is getting worse, but I don’t feel that way at all. I think I’m back to playing my best Twenty20 cricket. I’m having fun, and this is how I play T20 cricket. Kohli told former Team India head coach Ravi Shastri during the batting break, “I try to hit gaps, a lot of boundaries, and the big ones at the end if I can.”
“I’ve talked about strike rates and other things like that before… You have to read the situation and step up when it calls for it. That’s something I’m very proud of doing, and I’ve been doing it for a long time. “Right now, I feel really good about my game and how I’m batting out there in the middle,” Kohli said.
Gill, who got his second IPL century, said that it was all about turning small hits into “big ones.” “The key is to get a small start and turn it into a big one. I’m lucky that it worked out for me in the end. You need to keep trying; that’s very important. The new ball was a bit stuck. The dew was making the ball wet. Vijay Shankar seemed to be trying too hard, in my opinion. As soon as he got going, he went a long way. I know how to play my game. It’s important for any player to know who they are. Gill said at the presentation after the game, “I think we have a great bowling attack for that (Chennai) wicket.”
Gill and GT will now play MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium.
