Virat Kohli produced his first 90+ score in T20s on April 9 in the IPL 2013 season. (File Photo/IPL)
Virat Kohli, like he has made a habit of doing since then, produced a single-handed effort to seal a run chase for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on this day in the IPL 2013 season. His Man of the Match knock of 93* was his highest score in T20s then, and his first 90+ score in the format.
Kohli, succeeding Daniel Vettori as the captain of RCB just before the season, exploded to life in IPL 2013. It remains his best season in the IPL after IPL 2016 – his 976 runs in that season being the highest runs in a single season by any batsman.
In 2013, he scored 634 runs at an average of 45.28 and a strike rate of 138.73.
On April 9 in 2013, SRH faced the intenstity of a Virat Kohli in full flow. He was a man on a mission that day as the Delhi boy stroked the ball to all parts of the park. His 47-ball 93 was laced by eleven boundaries and four hits over the fence.
The run-chase didn’t commence on an expected note as the home side lost both the openers early. Chris Gayle fell without making an impression while Mayank Aggarwal’s little cameo didn’t last long.
Mayank’s departure brought the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper in the middle. The dashing youngster played with a lot of authority and stitched an important partnership with AB de Villiers to repair the early damage. The duo were going strong before the South African fell after adding a watchful 15 on the scoreboard.
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Earlier, after electing to bat, Sunrisers Hyderabad didn’t get off to the desired start as the visitors lost both their openers early. Skipper Kumar Sangakkara couldn’t convert the start he got and fell after scoring 23 at more than run a ball.
Reduced to 62/3, Sunrisers needed a special effort to post a respectable total on the board. Attacking Thisara Perera and last match hero Cameron White did just what the doctor ordered as the duo stitched a quick-fire 80-run stand to rescue their side. The duo hit three big hits over the fence each and there was no one stopping the duo in the middle.
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For the RCB, RP Singh was the pick of the bowlers as the left-arm seamer ended with figures of 3/27. It wasn’t a good day in the office for Vinay Kumar and the seamer went for more than 10 runs per over today.
The spin twin of Murali kartik and Muttiah Muralitharan went about doing their job quietly and didn’t go for too many runs in the process.
Brief Scores:
Sunrisers 161/6 (Cameron White 52, Thisara Perera 40, RP Singh 3/27)
RCB 162/3 (Virat Kohli 93*, Sharma 1/30)
Teams
Sunrisers Hyderabad – PA Reddy, PA Patel†, KC Sangakkara*, CL White, NLTC Perera, GH Vihari, BB Samantray, A Ashish Reddy, A Mishra, DW Steyn, I Sharma
Royal Challengers Bangalore – CH Gayle, AB de Villiers, V Kohli*, MA Agarwal, MC Henriques, KB Arun Karthik†, R Vinay Kumar, M Kartik, JD Unadkat, RP Singh, M Muralitharan