Virat Kohli, the legendary batsman of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), has now registered an all-time record of most half-centuries by a batsman against the T20s while batting first, even surpassing Pakistan’s Babar Azam. He achieved this on Friday while playing against Rajasthan Royals during IPL at M Chinnaswamy Stadium when he scored 70 runs off 42 balls with eight fours and two sixes with a strike rate of 166.67. This was his first fifty at home this season after having struggled a bit, having been able to accumulate only 30 runs in his previous three innings.
This half-century takes Virat to 62 for batting first in T20s, which is more than Babar’s record of 61. Interestingly, this was also the first time he got out to Jofra Archer in T20s, ending a streak of 103 runs over 11 innings against him.
Statistically, he is now second on the Orange Cap list with 392 runs in nine matches, averaging 65.33 and scoring five half-centuries, with a best score of 73*.
Rajasthan chose to bowl first after winning the toss. Started from a fresh RCB, which was initiated with a strong 61-run partnership from Salt and Virat, followed later by a 95-run partnership between Virat and Devdutt Padikkal, thus ensuring the contribution of RCB to the total of 205/5 at the end of 20 overs, even after losing quick wickets at the start. Tim David and Jitesh Sharma handled the later part of the innings, while Sandeep Sharma was Rajasthan’s best with figures of 2/45 and Jofra Archer took 1/33 in his four overs.
