On this day in 2013, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli had registered his the then career-best IPL score in the ninth match of the sixth season of the cash-rich league against SunRisers Hyderabad at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Having scored 24 (14) and 46 (44) in his first two matches as a full-time captain, Kohli up the ante in his third match on the back of his ninth IPL half-century.
Royal Challengers, who had lost their second match of IPL 2013 to SunRisers in a super over, thrived in their home fixture which was played with a one-day gap in between.
Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the sixth over in a 162-run chase, Kohli literally dominated the chase in a 66-run match-winning partnership alongside all-rounder Moises Henriques (7*).
On the fourth delivery of the ninth over, Kohli hit his first boundary in the form of a six off Hyderabad all-rounder Thisara Perera. Having continually hit boundaries in the following three overs, Kohli witnessed the fall of batsman AB de Villiers (14) in the 12th over.
Kohli, who completed his half-century by running a couple of runs off SRH spearhead Dale Steyn in the 15th over, was unstoppable as he sealed the chase in the 18th over.
Both teams were in the contest when Bangalore needed 45 runs off five overs. However, Kohli accumulated 21 runs off SRH spinner Amit Mishra’s over to bring down the run rate to 6 runs per over.
In Perera’s next over, Kohli hit three boundaries to further reduce the deficit and go past his previous career-best IPL score of 73. Kohli, then 24, ended up scoring 93* (47) with the help of 11 fours and four sixes.
Earlier, Hyderabad scored 161/6 in 20 overs primarily due to an 80-run fourth-wicket partnership between Cameron White (52) and Perera (40) after their captain Kumar Sangakkara who won the toss and opted to bat. With bowling figures of 4-0-27-3, Rudra Pratap Singh was the pick of the bowlers for RCB.
IPL 2013 ,Match 9 : Royal Challengers Bangalore vs SunRisers Hyderabad
Virat Kohli scored his then career-best in the Indian Premier League
#OnThisDay in 2013 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, King Kohli smashed it to all parts of the Chinnaswamy to steer RCB to a massive victory! How many of you remember this innings? 🤩
Fours : 1️⃣1️⃣ 🔥
Sixes: 4️⃣ ☄️
Strike Rate: 1️⃣9️⃣7️⃣.8️⃣ 🔥🔥#PlayBold pic.twitter.com/REFaGp161h— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 9, 2020
