RAIPUR: Virat Kohli produced a vintage, unbeaten century, scoring 105 off 60 balls, to steer Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a commanding six-wicket victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The match, held at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Wednesday, propelled RCB back to the top of the IPL points table.
After rain delayed the start of the match by 75 minutes, KKR posted a competitive total of 192/4, powered by Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s fluent 71 and Rinku Singh’s unbeaten 49. In response, Kohli delivered a chasing masterclass, laced with 11 fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 175. This marked his ninth IPL ton and 10th overall in T20s.
Chasing 193, RCB began cautiously, with debutant Saurabh Dubey conceding just two runs in the opening over. The tempo shifted in the second over when Vaibhav Arora erred in line, and Kohli capitalized with four boundaries. Jacob Bethell briefly accelerated with a six and two fours before falling to a caught-and-bowled effort by Kartik Tyagi.
Kohli remained unfazed, sharing a fluent 92-run stand for the second wicket with Devdutt Padikkal, who contributed 39 runs. Tyagi eventually broke the partnership with an off-cutter. Following the dismissals of Rajat Patidar and Tim David, Kohli calmly guided the innings, bringing up his century with a single in the 19th over. With three runs needed off the final over, Jitesh Sharma sealed the victory by pulling Dubey for a boundary, ending KKR’s four-match unbeaten streak and finishing the chase with five balls to spare.
