Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 14 : Indian cricket icon Sunil Gavaskar hailed Virat Kohli's record-breaking century for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Raipur, saying that while the talk about the next generation of hitters taking over is taking place, the veteran has shown that the "old generation is still the best".
After two successive ducks, Virat enthralled the Raipur crowd with a majestic display during a run-chase of 193 runs, not only hitting fours and sixes, but accumulating runs risk-free through singles and doubles, particularly the latter. This century made him the first-ever Indian to score 10 T20 hundreds and reach the 14,000 run mark in T20s.
Speaking on Star Sports 'Cricket Live', JioStar expert Gavaskar said that the star batter "knows how to construct a chase better than most" and what he does will take a long time to be matched.
"Virat Kohli was absolutely outstanding against KKR. He knows how to construct a chase better than most. When it comes to T20 centuries, he is third on the list with 10, behind Chris Gayle and Babar Azam. But he is the fastest to 14,000 T20 runs and has nine IPL hundreds. Records are there to be broken, but it will take a very long time for anyone to match what Kohli keeps delivering, game after game, season after season," he said.
"While everyone was talking about this being the season of 'Gen Next', Kohli showed he is still around. He silenced the doubters with a century and moved to third in the Orange Cap race. He proved that the old generation is still the best. Even though the young stars are taking centre stage, the experienced greats are not done yet. This hundred from Virat Kohli was one of those special moments that remind us of his greatness," he signed off.
Coming to the match, RCB won the toss and opted to bowl first, reducing KKR to 48/2. It was knocks from Angkrish Raghuvanshi (71* in 46 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) and Rinku Singh (49* in 32 balls, with three fours and two sixes) which took KKR to 192/4 in 20 overs.
Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam Dar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took a wicket each.
During the chase, Virat lost his opening partner, Jacob Bethell (15), early once again, but a 92-run stand with Devdutt Padikkal (39 in 27 balls, with seven fours) kept RCB above the required run-rate. Towards the end, it was Virat all over KKR as RCB chased down the total in 19.1 overs with six wickets in hand.
RCB is back to the top of the table, with eight wins and four losses, giving them 16 points. On the other hand, KKR, which was on a four-match unbeaten streak after six winless matches (spanning five losses and a no result), face a massive dent to their playoff chances, making their final three matches a must-win affair.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor