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ToggleVirat Kohli, on Saturday, finally returned to form as the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper scored a match-winning fifty against Rajasthan Royals. His fifty helped RCB thrash Royals by eight wickets and move to the top of the points table with three wins from the first four games.
Batting first, Rajasthan Royals finished their innings on 154 for 6. Mahipal Lomror, playing his first game of the season, top-scored for the Royals, scoring 47. Rahul Tewatia then provided the finishing touches by playing a fine cameo of 24 runs towards the end. For RCB, Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets for just 24 runs off his four overs.
In reply, RCB chased down the total with five balls remaining and eight wickets in hand. Virat Kohli was the architect of the win along with in-form opener Devdutt Padikkal. While the RCB skipper scored an unbeaten 72, Padikkal was dismissed for 63 as the duo shared a 99-run stand to seal the game for their side.
Virat Kohli bounces back:
The match-winning knock also ended Virat Kohli’s disastrous start to the competition. He had looked like a pale shadow of his usual self in the first three games of IPL 2020, managing just 18 runs without hitting a single boundary.
The India skipper started the tournament with a 14-run knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad although his team had gone on to win the game. In the following game against Kings XI Punjab, he was out for a five-ball one as RCB suffered a crushing 97-run defeat.
And his performance against Mumbai Indians was perhaps the worst of the lot as he managed just 3 runs from 11 balls. And as the right-handed batsman returned to his form, the excited fans took to Twitter to lavish praise on him.
Here are some of the reactions to his knock:
Virat Kohli has run 3 in the 19th over, he came to bat in the 2.3 over – the energy and fitness. Wow
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) October 3, 2020
A comfortable win for @RCBTweets. @devdpd07 has been impressive once again. Good to see @imVkohli back amongst the runs and it only makes RCB stronger.#RCBvRR #IPL2020
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 3, 2020
Today Virat Kohli be like: pic.twitter.com/fwfTCu45YI
— Mohit Lamba (@MohitLamba3918) October 3, 2020
What a game for RCB, what a game for Virat Kohli. We’ve seen almost everyone drained up whoever crossed a fifty this season, but Virat Kohli is different gravity. He completed 3 runs even when the RR was way below 6, unreal fitness from Kohli.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) October 3, 2020
What a game man @imVkohli Classic! Consistent! We’ve seen almost all players when they crossed half-century drained up, but this man is different. Saying hey haters, am back:) pic.twitter.com/4bNBhAzHo7
— Bareethul Kader (@farithjb) October 3, 2020
#ViratKohli
Trolling Virat Kohli for Scoring 1 Run? Let me remind you that he is the guy who owns the Record of Scoring Most Runs and most Centuries in Single Season! Wait some time and he will show you why he is called as the King #ViratKohli #RCBvRR @imVkohli— Pawan Roy (@Iampawan867) October 3, 2020
#ViratKohli looked solid,Didn’t commit on front foot vs spinners ??#rcb
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) October 3, 2020
Virat Kohli to haters- pic.twitter.com/9bde7DldWB
— Marmik Upadhyay (@_marmik19_) October 3, 2020