Five Virat Kohli innings that prove he is the king of the IPL

Virat Kohli, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain, may have not won an IPL trophy yet but he has definitely left his mark on the tournament. Kohli is the leading run-scorer in the IPL with 5,412 runs to his name. The RCB skipper has produced some scintillating innings. We look at five of his best innings in the IPL.

Virat Kohli's top 5 innings in the IPL

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100* vs Gujarat Lions (2016)

Kohli gave the innings stability as he batted with a calm demeanour to securely hold his end of the wicket. Kohli got to his 50 in 41 balls and then accelerated by pacing up his innings. With one ball left in the RCB innings, Kohli was batting at 96 when he sliced the last ball and got to his hundred and the crowd went bonkers. Kohli scored 100 in 63 balls and hit 11 fours and 1 six.

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100 vs Kolkata Knight Rider

RCB were in a dire need of results going their way. Kohli opened the innings as RCB batted first against KKR. This was a calm but lethal inning by Kohli as he swiftly scored runs and never gave the KKR bowlers any real chance to send him back. Kohli hit the second last ball of the RCB innings for a four and got to his hundred. In this inning, he hit 9 fours and 4 sixes.

108* vs Rising Pune Supergiant (2016)

This was Kohli's second hundred in the IPL of 2016. RCB was chasing RPS's 192 and Kohli helped them get there easily. In the inning which consisted of 7 sixes and 8 fours, the right-handed batsman showed a lot more aggression than his earlier hundred. Although he reached 50 in 31 balls, it only took him 27 balls to score the remaining 58.

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109 vs Gujarat Lions (2016)

Kohli had already scored two impressive centuries in that IPL and the star of this RCB innings was AB de Villiers. De Villiers had made a lethal hundred and was standing tall at 112, while a fairly dormant Kohli was at 52 on the other end. What unfolded next seemed too good to be true. Kohli shifted gears in an instance and now started hitting almost every ball, out of the ground. From 65 off 45, he went to 103 off just 53 balls. Kohli was out on 109, having hit 8 sixes and 5 fours.

113 vs Kings XI Punjab (2016)

In this rain-shortened fixture, a struggling KXIP met a hopeful RCB. RCB needed to win at all costs if they wanted to make the playoffs and in this 15-over game, Kohli and Gayle went all-guns-blazing. He ended up scoring 100 off just 47 balls and got out at 113 with 8 sixes and 12 fours to his name. This was his fourth hundred of the 2016 edition and he went on to end the season with a mammoth 973 runs which have not been outscored since. 

(Image Credit: RCB)

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