RCB vs KKR: Virat Kohli Smashed His Fifth Half-Century in IPL 2023 to Complete a Special Record at Chinnaswamy Stadium

RCB vs KKR: Despite a brilliant half-century from the RCB stand-in skipper Virat Kohli, Bangalore couldn’t end up winning the game. Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered their second successive defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing 2023 Indian Premier League. Batting first, Nitish Rana and his men posted a challenging total of 200/5 in 20 overs with some good contributions in the middle. Jason Roy smashed a 22-ball half-century and scored 56 off 29 balls. He added 83 runs with N Jagadeesan (27) for the first wicket.

Venkatesh Iyer (31 off 26) and skipper Nitish Rana (48 off 21) also played well in the middle overs. In the end, Rinku Singh (18 off 10) and David Wiese (12 off 3) ended with a flayer to help the team reach the 200-run mark. RCB had a brilliant start to their chase. They scored 30 runs in the first two overs. But then, Faf du Plessis (17 off 7) got out and RCB lost two more wickets in the powerplay. They were 58/3 at the end of the power play.

RCB vs KKR: Virat Kohli registered his fifth half-century of the IPL 2023

Stand-in skipper Virat Kohli looked good and took the team forward. He scored his fifth half-century in the ongoing season off 33 runs. But as soon as he completed his fifty, he got out. Virat made 54 off 37 balls in his inning. With this, Virat completed 3000 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru, and became the first-ever player to do so in the T20s.

He was looking good for another chase before Andre Russell dismissed him in the 13th over. Venkatesh Iyer took a brilliant catch at the boundary line to complete the wicket. So far, Virat has scored 333 runs in 8 innings at an average of 47.57 and a strike rate of 142.31, with five half-centuries. He is also the second-highest run-getter in the competition after Faf du Plessis (422 runs).

RCB has now lost four games this season and will face the Lucknow Super Giants in their next game. It will be played on May 1 at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. With the tournament entering the second half, every game is vital now, and Bangalore can’t afford to lose more games. They will be playing five away games on the trot before returning home for their last group game on May 1.