Will Jacks' maiden IPL ton and Virat Kohli's half-century helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru pick up a dominating 9-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in match 46 of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on April 28 (Sunday). Both of them joined a match-winning 166 runs partnership but a conversation inside the RCB dressing room revealed how Virat almost cost Jacks his century.
Virat Kohli almost cost WIll Jacks his century
Virat revealed that he was disappointed after taking a single against Rashid Khan in the 16th over and not hitting that ball for six but later when he saw Jacks on 94 he was glad that he didn't cost him that fantastic century.
"I was pissed off when I didn't hit a six on the first ball of the over, but when I saw Will Jacks on 94* and 1 run was still remaining, I said 'Thank God, I didn't hit a six'," Virat Kohli said in the RCB dressing room.
Kohli praises Jacks' knock vs GT
RCB's batting maestro Virat Kohli heavily praised Will Jacks after his stunning 41-ball century. He said he was extremely happy to witness the knock so up close from the other end.
“Phenomenal, I mean when he initially came onto bat (on Jacks), he was a bit annoyed that he wasn't able to strike the ball as cleanly as he wanted to, but the only conversation between us in the middle was to keep backing, keep committing because we know how explosive he can be. My role completely changed as soon as he got that big over off Mohit, for good, I was glad to be watching the game from the other end. I mean, I thought we could win the game in 19 overs, but to finish it in 16 overs was an outstanding effort,” said Kohli in the post-match presentation.
“I think it was one of the better T20I hundreds one would ever see, I was just happy to watch it closely from the other end. The wicket was pretty good, I mean towards the later half of their innings, it started settling down and that was probably the reason why both teams wanted to bowl first., That was evident, the temperature went down, it got cooler and as the wicket settled down, the ball started to come nicely onto the bat. I was just having fun out there, hitting boundaries whenever needed. We never allowed the run-rate to go under 10 rpo at any point of the chase and to do that in the end what Jacks did,” he added.
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