Royal Challengers Bengaluru stalwart batsman Virat Kohli has special praise in store for his fellow Will Jacks after the Englishman scored his maiden ton in T20 at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday. “Phenomenal” was the word Kohli used to describe Man of the Match Will's 100* against Gujarat Titans, a knock that brought a plethora of power blows and emotions from RCB fans. The experienced Englishman provided the much-needed firepower to the batting unit, which Bengaluru have missed several times in their failing season. Jacks hit ten towering sixes in his 41-ball hundred, which ranks fifth highest century in the history of the cash-rich league.
“Phenomenal, I mean when he first came to bat (at Jacks) he was a little annoyed that he couldn't hit the ball as cleanly as he wanted to, but the only conversation between us in the middle was to stay support, stay committed because we know how explosive he can be. My role changed completely once he got that big from Mohit, for good, I was happy to watch the game from the other side. I mean, I thought we could win To finish the match in 19 overs was a great achievement, but to finish it in 15 overs,” Kohli said after the match.
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While the Englishman made fielders chase the ball all over the ground, Kohli also made it difficult for the GT bowlers to find their rhythm.
While Kohli mesmerized the crowd with his refined shots, he was happy to see Jacks scoring runs from the non-striker's side.
“I think it was one of the better T20I hundreds you would ever see, I was just happy to be able to watch it up close from the other end. The wicket was quite good, I mean, towards the second half of their innings things started to settle down and that was probably why both teams wanted to bowl first. That was clear, the temperature dropped, it got cooler and when the wicket settled down the ball started to come on the bat nicely. “I was just having fun out there. We never allowed the run-rate to go below 10 rpo (runs per over) at any point during the chase and we eventually did, which is what Jacks did,” Kohli added.
The match, after GT came into bat, Sai Sudharsan (86*) and Shahrukh Khan's (58) blitz took the hosts to a competitive total of 200/3.
In reply, following the dismissal of skipper Faf du Plessis, Kohli and Jacks rattled GT's bowling unit with their 166*-run stand to complete a 9-wicket win for RCB.
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