RCB skipper Virat Kohli cannot remain far away from breaking records or reaching milestones in the shortest format of the game as he scaled yet another milestone when he took the field to lead RCB against Kolkata.
‘King Kohli’, taking his IPL runs tally to 5110 runs, overtook Suresh Raina (5086 runs ) to become the highest run-scorer in Indian Premier League history besides completing 8000 runs in T-20 cricket. The RCB skipper achieved this feat only after making his 17th fifty, hitting nine fours and two sixes against KKR.
Kohli is the second Indian batsman to complete 8000 runs in T-20 cricket after veteran Suresh Raina. Raina, who plays for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL, has 8,110 runs to his name in the shortest format of the game.
By his lofty standards, Kohli has been pretty subdued notching up the scores of 23, 3, 46 and 6 in the IPL 2019 so far.
The RCB skipper hit some beautiful cover drives early on in his innings. De Villiers too was in his element, smashing five fours and four maximums.
Kohli was finally out in the 18th over off Kuldeep Yadav as he hit the ball straight into the bowler's hands. He was particularly severe on Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Fergusson and Nitesh Rana.
De Villiers played second fiddle to Kohli before cutting loose to produce some massive hits. In the last over, Marcus Stoinis belted 18 runs off Prasidh with the help of two boundaries and a six, pushing the total past 200 mark.
Needing a good start desperately, Parthiv Patel and Kohli gave a good start for first time in the tournament, stitching 64 runs for the first wicket in 7.5 overs. Patel was LBW to Nitesh Rana after scoring 25 off 24 balls with three boundaries to his credit.