Virat Kohli Continues To Shatter Records, Comes Closer To Creating History
Virat Kohli continued to shatter records as he smashed his 17th fifty-plus score in 2016 to help Royal Challengers Bangalore enter the play-offs of the Indian Premier League.
Highlights
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Virat Kohli needs 81 runs more to score 1000 runs in one IPL edition.
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Kohli has 17 scores of fifty-plus in 2016, the most by any batsman.
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Kohli has smashed four hundreds, which is the most in an IPL edition.
Can anybody stop Virat Kohli? After 919 runs, six fifties, four hundreds, average of 91.9 and strike-rate of 152.4, the answer seems to be no. Kohli is on top of the game and his unbeaten 54 in the game against Delhi Daredevils helped Royal Challengers Bangalore seal their spot in the play-offs.
To give more joy for RCB, they finished second and they will have two shots of reaching the final, which will be played in their home-ground of Chinnaswamy stadium. They will play Gujarat Lions in the first qualifier, which will also be played at the Chinnaswamy stadium and in their last encounter, they notched up 248/3, the highest score in this edition.
Kohli needs only 81 runs to become the first batsman in Twenty20 history to score 1000 runs in one edition of a tournament. The highest, across all Twenty20 leagues, was 733 by Chris Gayle and Michael Hussey in the Indian Premier League during the 2012 and 2013 editions respectively. With RCB sure of playing two matches, Kohli is on course to create history.
During the match against Delhi Daredevils, Kohli added yet another record to his stack of records in 2016 by registering his 17th fifty-plus score, beating the mark set by Chris Gayle in 2012 when he had 16 fifty-plus knocks.
Interestingly, the chances of Royal Challengers Bangalore winning their first IPL have only increased since they have finished second. Ever since the new play-off format was introduced in the 2012 edition, teams that have finished second have gone on to win the title. In 2012, Kolkata Knight Riders finished second behind Delhi Daredevils but defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final to win their first IPL crown.
In 2013, Mumbai Indians finished second behind Chennai Super Kings but registered victory over the same opponents in the final to win their maiden crown. In 2014, KKR finished second behind Kings XI Punjab and they defeated them again in the final at Chinnaswamy stadium to win their second crown. In 2015, MI again finished second behind CSK but went on to win the final in Eden Gardens. Kohli's RCB have a chance to continue the streak.