Though India’s star batsman, Virat Kohli’s bat sizzles with breaking records, the current Orange Cap’ holder of this season IPL-2024, yet shadows of criticism loom over him like uninvited guests as his team Royal Challengers Bengaluru is not able to clinch victories.
On Saturday, Kohli scored unbeaten 113-run against Rajasthan Royals, his best in the IPL tournament despite that he is facing criticism, fans and experts raising questions over his strike-rate and intent behind the ton. Pakistan cricketer Junaid Khan trolled the chase-master for scoring the ‘’slowest century in the history of IPL’.
The batting maestro hit four massive sixes and 12 boundaries and raked 113 runs remained not-out. With this he shared the first place with Manish Pandey on the board of slowest century hit batsmen.
Slowest hundreds in IPL history:
- Virat Kohli: 67 balls vs Rajasthan Royals, 2024
- Manish Pandey: 67 balls vs Deccan Chargers, 2009
- Sachin Tendulkar: 66 balls vs Kochi Tuskers Kerala, 2011
- David Warner: 66 balls vs KKR, 2010
- Jos Buttler – 66 balls vs MI, 2022
- Kevin Pietersen – 64 balls vs Deccan Chargers, 2012
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Junaid wrote: “Congratulations Virat Kohli on the slowest 100 in the history of IPL”.
Congratulations Virat kholi on the slowest 💯 in the history of IPL#RRvRCB #IPL2024
— Junaid khan (@JunaidkhanREAL) April 6, 2024
During the mid-innings break, Kohli openly shared the challenges he encountered while batting on the pitch. Despite its seemingly kindly appearance from the sidelines, Kohli revealed the deceptive nature of the surface.
Contrary to expectations, the pitch didn’t offer the expected evenness, with the ball gripping and altering its pace unpredictably. Recognizing the need for adaptability, Kohli highlighted the importance of at least one batsman anchoring the innings till the end. His approach was marked by caution rather than aggression, a strategic choice by his understanding of the conditions and the necessity to keep the opposition bowlers do their efforts to pick the wickets. He also assessed the potential impact of dew, stated that the continuing roughness and dryness of the surface that would challenge the incoming batters.
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