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It was a mixed bag of a night for star Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and India batter Virat Kohli as he smashed his eighth Indian Premier League (IPL) century in a losing effort against Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium, breaking a lot of records, for good and bad reasons.
Virat was at his fighting best, cracking an unbeaten 110* in 72 balls, with 12 fours and four sixes. His runs came at a strike rate of 156.94. During his knock, Virat touched some new heights as a T20 batter, continuing to prove his mettle ahead of this year's ICC T20 World Cup. But on the other hand, the relatively slow nature of his knock and poor performances of the RCB batting also attracted some unfortunate records. Here is how Virat rewrote record books during his knock: -Touches new high as RCB batter Virat is the first batter to score 7,500 IPL runs and 8,000 T20 runs for RCB. In 242 matches, Virat has scored 7,579 runs at an average of 38.27 and a strike rate of over 130. He has scored eight centuries and 52 fifties, with the best score of 113*. In 257 matches for RCB, Virat has scored 8,003 runs at an average of 38.29 and a strike rate of 131.54, with eight centuries and 54 fifties. His best score is 113*. This also includes 15 matches played for the franchise in now-defunct Champions League T20, scoring 484 runs at an average of 28.54 and a strike rate of over 150.35, with two fifties. His best score is 84*. -Overtakes David Warner in T20 run-scoring charts Virat has overtaken David Warner, the Australian star opener, to become fifth-highest run-getter in T20 cricket. In 381 matches, Virat has made 12,310 runs at an average of 41.87 with a strike rate of over 133, with nine centuries and 93 fifties. His best score is 122*. Warner on the other hand has 12,213 runs at an average of 37.12 in 374 matches, with eight centuries and 102 fifties. -Surpasses global T20 stars to climb up the short-format ladder With nine centuries, Virat is the third-highest century-maker in T20 cricket. With this century, he has overtaken Australian stars David Warner, Michael Klinger and Aaron Finch to reach the third spot. Only Pakistan's Babar Azam (11 tons) and West Indies legend Chris Gayle (22 tons) have more centuries than him. -Surpasses MS Dhoni in IPL six-scoring charts After smashing four sixes last night, Virat's six tally in IPL is now 246, four more than Dhoni. Now he is the fourth-highest six-hitter in IPL history, with Chris Gayle (357), AB de Villiers (261) and Rohit Sharma (251) above him in the list. -Virat finally comes good in Jaipur during IPL Before this century, in eight matches Virat has played at this venue in the IPL, he had scored just 149 runs at an average of 21.29 and a poor strike rate of just over 94. His best score here was 39* and no fifties and hundreds were made by Virat here. Out of all venues where he's batted at least eight innings in his IPL career, he had the worst average in Jaipur. RR had managed to keep Virat's record-breaking ways in check, but he finally came good at this venue with a century. -Most IPL centuries in losing cause Three of Virat's eight IPL tons have come in a losing cause, making him the player with the most IPL tons in a losing cause. With his knock, he surpassed RR skipper Sanju Samson and former Punjab Kings batter Hashim Amla. -Joint slowest IPL century Virat's century came in 67 balls, which is the joint slowest century in the history of the cash-rich league, tied with Manish Pandey's 67-ball hundred against Deccan Chargers back in IPL 2009. Pandey went on to make 114 in that match while playing for RCB. -One Man Army for RCB This year, Virat has contributed 38 per cent of RCB runs by himself. He has the Orange Cap for most runs around his head, scoring 316 runs in five innings at an average of 105.33, with a century and two fifties. His runs have come at a strike rate of over 146. Interestingly, skipper Faf Du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green, the franchise's three big overseas batters, have scored just 209 runs together in these five matches, without even a single half-century. Taking into account the runs of Rajat Patidar, Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik and other recognised batters, the whole RCB batting line-up except Virat has scored 418 runs, making Virat's performance a massive one-man carry job. Coming to the match, RR put RCB to field first. Despite an opening partnership of 125 runs between skipper Faf Du Plessis (44 in 33 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Virat Kohli (113* in 72 balls, with 12 fours and four sixes), RCB failed to put up a fine total on the board, settling for 183/3 in their 20 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal (2/34) was the pick of the bowlers for RR. Nandre Burger also took a wicket. In the run-chase, RR did lose Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck. But skipper Sanju Samson (69 in 42 balls, with eight fours and two sixes) joined forces with Jos Buttler (100* in 58 balls, with nine fours and four sixes), who roared back into form with a century in his 100th IPL match. Despite some quick wickets later, RR chased down the total with five balls and six wickets in hand. Reece Topley (2/27) was the pick of the bowlers for RCB. Yash Dayal and Mohammed Siraj took a wicket each but it was not enough. Buttler took home the 'Player of the Match' award. RR is at the top spot, having won four of their four games, which gives them eight points. RCB is in the eighth spot with a win in their five matches, giving them only two points. (ANI)
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