Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli on Thursday became the first batsman to score 6 000 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
India skipper Kohli reached the milestone in 196 matches and leads the list ahead of Chennai’s Suresh Raina (5 448 runs), Delhi’s Shikhar Dhawan (5 428), Hyderabad’s David Warner (5 384) and Mumbai’s Rohit Sharma (5 368).
Kohli’s unbeaten knock of 72 was eclipsed by 20-year-old Devdutt Padikkal, who smashed 101 off 52 balls in a 10-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals to become the youngest batsman to score a century during an IPL chase.
“I had the best seat in the house,” Kohli said after Padikkal smashed six sixes and 11 fours.
“You can’t always be the guy going dominant. Tonight my role was different and I wanted to hang in there.”
Kolkata captain Morgan says ‘matter of time’ before he finds form
Eoin Morgan has no doubts he will rediscover his form in the IPL and the Kolkata Knight Riders captain says he is just waiting for something to click.
Kolkata, with the top order wilting again, suffered an 18-run loss, their third in four matches, to Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The two-time champions’ struggles mirror that of skipper Morgan, who now has scores of seven, 29, seven, and two in the last four matches.
“Everything is about process. I’m going about things in an extremely positive way,” Morgan told reporters after the loss.
“I’ve been here a long time now, obviously been here on international duty for a month pre-IPL, and I’ve been practising well.
“It’s a matter of time before something comes together.”
Chasing 221 for victory, Kolkata slumped to 31-5 in the sixth over and despite fiery fifties from Andre Russell (54) and Pat Cummins (66 not out) down the order they could not get the win.
Morgan said Kolkata probably conceded 20 extra runs but felt the loss was due to their top order’s failure.
“If you look at the position that we were in after the powerplay onwards and only falling 20 runs short, you don’t have to be an optimist to think that we would have been in a really good position if we batted better at the top of the order,” added England’s World Cup-winning captain.
