On this day, April 19, 2019: Virat Kohli smashes century as RCB beat KKR in a high scoring thriller. It was the 35th match of the Indian Premier League 2019 between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders at the iconic Eden Gardens. RCB were batting first and lost the wicket of Parthiv Patel early. Virat Kohli played some terrific shots and took on the bowlers in the powerplay.
Kolkata Knight Riders picked up the second wicket in the ninth over as Akshdeep Nath departed for 13 runs from 15 balls. Moeen Ali joined Virat Kohli and the duo stitched up a massive partnership to put RCB right on top. They added 90 runs for the third wicket partnership and Mooen Ali played an outstanding knock of 66 runs from just 28 balls and took Kuldeep Yadav to the cleaners.
Virat Kohli continued his sublime form as Royal Challengers Bengaluru posted a massive total of 213/4 at the end of the first innings. Kohli smashed an unbeaten century off just 58 balls which put Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a good position at the halfway mark. Chasing the target, Kolkata Knight Riders lost both the openers early and were reduced to 24/2 in the first four overs of the chase.
Shubman Gill and Robin Uthappa struggled and they could not maintain the momentum as the required rate kept climbing. Both batters were dismissed for nine runs and had taken plenty of balls. Kolkata Knight Riders were well behind the game at that stage but Nitish Rana along with Andre Russell counter-attacked and provided them some hope. Russell smashed 65 runs off just 25 balls before getting dismissed while Nitish Rana was unbeaten on 85 at the end of the innings as Kolkata scored 203/5 in the chase and fell short by 10 runs as RCB won a high scoring thriller.
