Virat Kohli delivered an absolute masterclass at the Chinnaswamy Stadium as he led from the front for the Royal Challengers against the Rising Pune Supergiants. Kohli weaved his magic against Pune as he helped his side to scale down a colossal target of 192 with ease and grace. By the virtue of his knock, the Royal Challengers have got closer to that elusive playoffs berth.
His century against the Supergiants wasn’t his first one for this season, though. Kohli scored his first ever T20 ton against the Gujarat Lions a few weeks ago, but that sadly didn’t end up as a winning ton. Post that loss, Kohli admitted that a century wouldn’t matter too much if it wasn’t on the winning side.
After the game last evening, Kohli said that the second ton was much “sweeter” than the first one. “This century is much sweeter than the first because we could romp home this time. I think we needed a victory to pull ourselves up after losing the earlier match where I got my first century of the season,” said Kohli. “I think one player cannot win you a game. I was supported very well by KL at the top and then Watto came in and made a quickfire 36 runs,” he further added.
Kohli was full of praises for Australian Shane Watson, who played a priceless cameo for the Royal Challengers. “He was brilliant with his bat and ball in this match. I think this was the best contribution he made for any IPL team before. Great to see him bounce back. He was pumped to come out good after a couple of bad innings with his bat,” Kohli said.
“Even after posting 150 plus totals, we were losing, and hence decided to put a premium on my bat and made up my mind to stay at the wicket till the end and see the team through a win which was very much needed,” Kohli concluded.