HYDERABAD: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) power duo Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis crushed thier opponent Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) with their dominant opening partnership of 172 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday.
RCB star openers have emerged as the most successful pair in this year’s IPL. They have the most runs in the season, scoring 872 in 13 innings. They also achieved the milestone of scoring 1000 runs as an opening stand in IPL history in the match.
The pair also shares the most number of fifty runs partnerships in a season of IPL with David Warner and Jonny Bairstow who added 50-run stands seven times in the year 2019. Faf also shares the same records with Rutraj Gaikwad in the year 2021.
Virat has registered a record of scoring 800 plus partnerships twice in the IPL tournament. He first accomplished this milestone with veteran AB de Villiers in the year 2016 for RCB and now with Faf du Plessis.
Virat Kohli’s chase masterclass and his scintillating century overshadowed Heinrich Klaasen’s ton in a gripping run-fest. Chasing 187 to win, RCB got off to a flying start courtesy of in-form openers – Virat Kohli and Captain Faf du Plessis.
Opener Virat Kohli hit from the word go and was off the mark with two timely strokes before Faf du Plessis jumped on the bandwagon. The fifty partnership was up yet again in the tournament for RCB’s opening duo and the visitors moved to 64/0 after 6 overs.
SRH nearly put an end to the opening partnership after Mayank Dagar took a sensational catch, however, on a delivery that unfortunately turned out to be a no-ball, adding to SRH’s worries.
The duo looked unstoppable with the bat as both du Plessis and Kohli reached their respective half-centuries and RCB were cruising at 108/0 with 8 overs to go.
Virat Kohli was at his sublime best and left everyone in awe as the 150-run partnership was up for the opening wicket. The equation was down to 23 off 18 for the visitors as SRH kept searching for the opening wicket. Virat Kohli smashed a maximum off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bowling to reach his first century of the season in style.
SRH bounced back to dismiss both the RCB openers in quick succession but it was too late for the home side as RCB chased down the target with four balls to spare and register an 8-wicket victory.
