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Former Royal Challengers Bangalore's skipper Virat Kohli is the epitome of making and breaking records with his prolific batting. It was just the regular day for Kohli on Sunday (March 27), who surpassed Australia's T20 star batter David Warner to enter a sensational batting list during RCB match against Punjab Kings, in which he played a fiery knock of 41 off 29.
Kohli, unburdened by the RCB captaincy, belted Punjab bowlers left, right and centre as he cracked a four and two sixes and looked in his elements. He paired up with newly appointed captain Faf Du Plessis, who scored a blistering 88, to help RCB post a colossal 205 which was later overhauled by Punjab Kings with five wickets to spare.
En route to his rollicking knock, Kohli went past Warner to become the fifth-highest run-scorer in T20 cricket. He has now amassed a total of 10,314 runs in 310 innings, which remains the highest ever by an Indian batter while Warner stands sixth with 10,308 runs.
The 33-year-old is now chasing Australia's captain Aaron Finch, who is just 130 runs ahead of Kohli. The T20 maestro Chris Gayle rules the elite list with a humungous 14,562 runs, followed by Pakistan's Shoaib Malik (11698) and West Indies' Kieron Pollard (11430).
Kohli achieved another milestone in the match against Punjab Kings as he completed his 200th innings in IPL history as he also became the only player to play as many innings for a single franchise. Above all, Kohli remains the highest run-getter in IPL history as he extended his tally to 6324 runs in 208 matches.
Talking about the match, Newly-appointed skipper Faf du Plessis' scintillating 57-ball 88 went in vain as Punjab Kings produced a solid batting display to script a successful chase for a five-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in a thrilling IPL match here on Sunday.
While Du Plessis showed his six-hitting prowess, hammering seven maximums in his whirlwind knock, Virat Kohli also chipped in with an unbeaten 41 off 29 balls and Dinesh Karthik made a quick fire 32 not out as RCB posted a massive 205 for 2 after being invited to bat.
The chase was steep but not impossible and Punjab produced a sensational effort to overhaul the target, scoring 208 for 5 with an entire over to spare.
While Mayank Agarwal (32 off 24) and Shikhar Dhawan (43 off 29) added 71 for the first wicket to lay the foundation for the chase, Bhanuka Rajapaksa (43 off 22) also shone on his IPL debut but Punjab suffered a collapse to be down and out at 156 for 5.
However, Shahrukh Khan (24 not out off 20 balls) and Odean Smith (25 not out off 8 balls) then joined hands to complete the job in the end. The duo shared a 52-run unbroken stand off just 25 balls for the sixth wicket to take Punjab home.
Smith smashed three sixes and a four off Mohammed Siraj in the 18th over to accumulate 25 runs and bring down the equation to 11 from the final two overs. Shahrukh, who hit one four and two maximums, finished the game with a boundary as Mayank Agarwal started his captaincy tenure with a win.
