Virat Kohli smashed his sixth IPL century on Thursday and equalled his former Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate Chris Gayle’s record for most centuries in the history of the tournament. Gayle came up with an astonishing remark as soon as Kohli equalled his record, lavishing praise on the former RCB captain.
Kohli smashed a ton in 62 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad to help the Bengaluru-based franchise pick up a crucial victory over SRH by 8 wickets at the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium on May 18.
The 34-year-old trailed Gayle having smashed five centuries but brought up his sixth ton and is now just one century away from recording the most centuries in IPL history by any player.
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The Caribbean ace welcomed his former teammate into the most hundreds club with some high praise. Gayle said that he was feeling lonely and was bored at the ‘top’ but was delighted to be joined by Virat.
“Welcome young man and welcome to the highest century makers club. I was bored. I was lonely and bored. I was like ‘I need some company at the top’. Now I have got it and we can have a talk now, Virat.” Gayle told JioCinema on Friday.
It was Kohli’s first century in IPL since 2019 and played a key role in his side’s win over SRH that keeps them on course for the IPL 2023 playoffs. While the 34-year-old has been criticised for his slow strike-rate he gave a befitting reply to his critics with another stunning knock.
Gayle was also impressed with his former’s teammate’s mentality who continued to take a few risks and played with full aggression.
“He was so aggressive from ball one. When he hit that first boundary, he was like ‘it’s my day today and I am going to make it count’. He delivered for his team. Virat seldom plays a lot of sweep, but to see him play sweeps against left-arm spinners was lovely. It was a superb innings and he was complemented by Faf as well,” added the RCB legend.
Du Plessis himself scored an important 71-run knock as the two openers stitched together a 172-run stand to take the match away from Sunrisers who also had a centurion in their ranks as Heinrich Klaasen smashed his maiden IPL century.
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