RCB vs KKRVirat Kohli continues sensational run at Chinnaswamy to hit his 5th fifty of IPL 2023

By India Today Sports DeskRoyal Challengers Bangalore star Virat Kohli lit up the Chinnaswamy Stadium with a free-flowing 54 against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 36th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Wednesday. This was Virat Kohli’s 49th fifty in the Indian Premier League and fifth in the ongoing season. Kohli was batting on 54 and looked set for his sixth IPL hundred when Venkatesh Iyer took a stunning catch off Andre Russell to end his stay at the crease.

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The RCB stand-in skipper made his intentions clear from the first ball he faced as he slashed hard to hit Vaibhav Arora for a boundary. Kohli, who continued to lose partners at regular intervals, hit boundaries off Umesh Yadav, Suyash Sharma and Varun Chakaravarthy to keep the required run rate in check.

Kohli stitched a 31-run opening stand with Faf du Plessis, who departed for 17 after hitting two sixes. Shahbaz Ahmed (2) and Glenn Maxwell (5) departed in quick succession to pile the pressure on Kohli. However, the young Mahipal Lomror played a stroke-filled 34-run inning and added 55 runs for the fourth wicket with his senior partner Kohli, before Varun Chakaravarthy outfoxed him.

Earlier, Jason Roy top-scored with 56 as Kolkata Knight Riders put on a unified batting display against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League match on Wednesday. Roy hit his second fifty in three IPL games, scoring 56 off 29 balls with five sixes and four fours.

He shared a first-wicket stand of 83 runs with KKR opener N Jagadeesan, who scored 27 off 29 balls. KKR captain Nitish Rana hit a 21-ball 48, Venkatesh Iyer hit a 31-ball 31, Rinku Singh hit a 10-ball 18 not out, and David Weise hit a 12-ball 12 with two sixes near the end of the innings.