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Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) all-rounder Krunal Pandya's prophecy indeed came true, as star batter Virat Kohli scored a magnificent century against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Raipur on Wednesday, bouncing back from two back-to-back ducks in the previous outing.
Following the match, Krunal posted a picture with the batting icon, with both together making the number '100' with their hands. In the post's caption, he referred to his remarks during the post-match presser after a win over the Mumbai Indians (MI), where he had said that Virat failing in a couple of games makes him excited for his comeback. "I told you so," posted Krunal on Instagram with a cold-face and a king's crown emoji. https://www.instagram.com/p/DYSouMzAYqC/?hl=en After Virat fell for his second successive duck of the tournament against MI, Krunal backed the "champion player" in the presser after the match, saying, "Virat Kohli is a champion player. When he fails for two games, I get more excited because I know he will come back. We are never tense about him. He is a different beast, he has a lot of hunger. From here on, I am sure Virat Kohli will do Virat Kohli things." In this match, Virat became the fastest player to reach 14,000 T20 runs, the first Indian to score 10 T20 hundreds, and tied Jos Buttler for the most IPL hundreds during a run chase with three. It's safe to say that the all-rounder's predictions have come true, at least for this particular game. Virat has made a huge leap in the IPL 2026 run charts, jumping to third spot in the Orange Cap race with 484 runs in 12 matches and innings at an average of 53.77 and a strike rate of 165.75, including a century and three fifties. Coming to the match, RCB won the toss and opted to bowl first, reducing KKR to 48/2. It was knocks from Angkrish Raghuvanshi (71* in 46 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) and Rinku Singh (49* in 32 balls, with three fours and two sixes) which took KKR to 192/4 in 20 overs. Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took a wicket each. During the chase, Virat lost his opening partner, Jacob Bethell (15), early once again, but a 92-run stand with Devdutt Padikkal (39 in 27 balls, with seven fours) kept RCB above the required run-rate. Towards the end, it was Virat all over KKR as RCB chased down the total in 19.1 overs with six wickets in hand. RCB is back to the top of the table, with eight wins and four losses, giving them 16 points. On the other hand, KKR, which was on a four-match unbeaten streak after six winless matches (spanning five losses and a no result), faces a massive dent to their playoff chances, making their final three matches a must-win affair. (ANI)
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