Virat Kohli with Shubman Gill after RCB’s IPL 2023 match against GT,© BCCI/IPL
The Faf du Plessis led Royal Challengers Bangalore’s IPL 2023 came to an end on Sunday after losing to defending champions Gujarat Titans in their last league match. Despite a record seventh IPL ton from Virat Kohli, RCB could not finish on the winning side. After Kohli’s 61-ball 101 formed the basis of RCB’s 197-run total batting first, GT chased the target in 19.1 overs. Shubman Gill’s 52-ball 104* played a big part in that win. Gill’s innings consisted of eight sixes and five fours, while Kohli hit 13 fours and one six. According to IPL winning coach Tom Moody, the number of sixes was a “significant difference” between the two innings.
“He (Gill) is such a special player, he really is. We’ve seen the last 12 months in all three formats. Be it the IPL or Indian colours. He’s so delightful to watch. He’s just so composed to the crease. You look at his facial expression, you look at his body language, he seems so composed. He’s got the game,” said Tom Moody on ESPNCricinfo.
“Eight sixes! To me that was the difference between two hundred. Both were brilliant hundreds. But Kohli only hit one six while Shubman Gill hit eight sixes. He finished with a strike rate of 200. That’s a significant difference. In a chasing situation, against a good bowling attack… hats off to him.”
Gujarat Titans won by six wickets as they, Chennai, Mumbai and Lucknow advanced to the playoffs of the world’s largest T20 tournament.
“A lot of people think my T20 cricket is declining. I don’t feel like that at all,” said Kohli afterwards. “I think I’m playing my best T20 cricket again.”
That could be so, but for Kohli and Bangalore it was just the latest IPL failure. Since the tournament’s inception in 2008, the franchise has never won the title in 16 attempts – finishing second three times.
Kohli captained Bangalore for nine of those seasons and at the end of the 2021 edition, he decided to give up leading the team. That was in the middle of a difficult period for Kohli when the magic with the bat failed him. In 2020, he had relinquished the Indian T20 captaincy after a disastrous World Cup and was sacked as ODI skipper. He then retired as Test captain.
With AFP inputs
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