Published 17:26 IST, April 24th 2020
Virat Kohli slams first-ever IPL ton of 100* for RCB on April 24, 2016; watch video
Virat Kohli's 2016 IPL is a season that very few batsmen may be able to replicate. He scored 973 runs and tonked four centuries, leading RCB to the final.
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On April 24, 2016, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli scored his first ever IPL century in Season 9 of the IPL. RCB were visiting the Gujarat Lions at Rajkot and King Kohli made sure that he stayed for his team throughout the innings. Let us take a look back at Kohli's first hundred of that iconic season.
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Virat Kohli finally gets his first IPL hundred at Rajkot
Virat Kohli had been with the Royal Challengers Bangalore since IPL 2008 and had been one of the most consistent run-scorers in the IPL. The Indian Test captain had gotten close to reaching the three-figure mark before but had never touched it. In Match 19 of IPL 2016, the Royal Challengers Bangalore visited the in-form Gujarat Lions at Rajkot. Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat on the track.
Coming out to bat with Shane Watson, Kohli lost his opening partner quickly, followed by the quick perishing of AB de Villiers.
Virat Kohli's new batting partner KL Rahul then assessed the conditions along with the captain and the two chose to take the attack to the Gujarat Lions bowlers. While the duo attacked the bowlers, they were cautious too as they stitched together a brilliant partnership worth 121 runs.
On the final ball of the innings, Virat Kohli was at 96 when he sliced the final delivery to get himself to his first IPL hundred. The RCB skipper was visibly jubilated on getting to the 100-run mark for the first time in his IPL career. Here are the highlights of the knock.
(Video courtesy: BCCI)
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RCB lost this match to the Gujarat Lions as the home team easily ended up chasing down the total of 181. However, this knock turned the season around for the skipper Virat Kohli. While one hundred was not too unlikely for a man of his calibre, what Kohli did in the remaining matches is something that may never be recreated again.
Virat Kohli ended up scoring another hundred against RPS, he then met Gujarat in the return fixture and both him and AB de Villiers scored hundreds in that match, and finally, the team met the Kings XI Punjab in a rain-shortened 15-over fixture where Kohli smashed his fourth IPL hundred of the season.
Kohli's brilliance took RCB to the final where they lost against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He scored 973 runs in that season, which till this day has never been paralleled by any batsman.
17:26 IST, April 24th 2020