IPL 2022, RCB vs CSK: Top 3 Virat Kohli knocks against Chennai
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He might not be the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain anymore, but Virat Kohli continues to be Chennai Super Kings (CSK)'s biggest undoer.
The right-hander is the top-scorer against them with 948 runs from 28 matches at an average of over 41. He's just 52 runs short of becoming only the second batter after Rohit Sharma to score 1000 runs against one franchise in the IPL. Rohit achieved the feat against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Kohli also seems to have regained his old aggression and drive, if his recent 36-ball 48 against the Mumbai Indians is anything to go by. His red-hot reaction after being controversially adjudged lbw must have sent shivers down the spines of the opposition.
If that is a precursor to what lies ahead, CSK fans could be in for a long Tuesday night (12 April).
Below we look at three special knocks where Kohli did what CSK would desperately want to avoid at Mumbai's DY Patil Sports Academy.
#1 Virat Kohli 90* (52), RCB vs CSK 25th match, IPL 2020, October 10
If someone asks for the "typical Virat Kohli T20 masterclass", show them this one.
He came to the crease with the innings going slowly at 13-1 after 2.5 overs. Kohli took six balls to get his eyes in before treating the seventh with a step-out-smack to long-off for a boundary and kickstarted a near-unstoppable juggernaut.
Kohli began with proper cricketing shots, driving to covers and pulling in front of square, slowly building even as wickets fell at the other end. CSK bowlers reverted to slower balls and he switched with them, generating power with his foot movement and frustrating them more by playing with the field.
The pitch was two-paced but the batter was just too good for it. He played most of his shots in front of the wickets and pushed the fielding side to its limits with his exceptional running between the wickets.
Until the 19th over, he had single-handedly pushed the team's total to 155-4, scoring half of the runs himself. And on the first ball of the last over, bowled by DJ Bravo, he unfurled one of the most memorable shots in IPL history - a sit-on-one-knee, AB de Villiers-style paddle scoop for a boundary fine of the square-leg fielder.
He ended up with his best score against CSK - a 90* (52), weaved with four boundaries and as many sixes. RCB put up 169-4 and Chennai could only reach 132-8 in 20 overs, handing Kohli and Co. their biggest win over the four-time champions.
#2 Virat Kohli 56* (29), RCB vs CSK 70th match, IPL 2013, May 18
In a recent interview with ESPNcricinfo, former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar talked about how Kohli's "power game" is not what it used to be. This innings, in his first year of RCB captaincy, perhaps shows what the team is missing from him.
In a rain-affected match at Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB were asked to set a total for CSK in just eight overs. Kohli opened alongside one of the biggest hitters in the game, Chris Gayle. In a rare instance, the West Indian was pushed to a second-fiddle role due to the 24-year-old skipper's ferocious hitting.
MS Dhoni, in typical fashion, tried to catch the RCB openers off-guard by fielding his spinners upfront but Kohli was up for the challenge, using his feet against Ravichandran Ashwin to hit him all around the park. There was no time to build the innings so the batter dealt in fours and sixes, hitting 48 of his unbeaten 56 runs via boundaries.
He reached his half-century in just 28 balls - one of his quickest to date - and RCB put up a brilliant 106-2 on the board. CSK and Dhoni (24 off 10) tried but fell short by 24 runs. Kohli was unsurprisingly adjudged the Player of the Match.
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#3 Virat Kohli 73 (49), RCB vs CSK 53rd match, IPL 2014, May 24
Against an in-form CSK bowling attack led by Ashish Nehra and Ashwin, the former RCB skipper scored a super-stylish 73 (49) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in 2014. RCB were already out of contention for the playoffs and it was their last league game of the season, giving this knock the feel of an angry statement from a young leader.
He came to bat at No. 4 after the RCB top order looked good in patches, but got out for sub-20 scores.
He once again took on CSK's spin attack, which also included Ravindra Jadeja and Samuel Badree, with immaculate feet movement, rocking back for pull shots and making room to hit them flat over long-on. Pacers weren't spared either, with those crafty wrists helping him hit them over mid-wicket with panache.
There were no cheeky chats, no tricky shots - just pure, determined hitting with a strike rate of 149 to carry the IPL team to a fighting 154-6. Although RCB's bowling didn't match up to the knock as Faf du Plessis and MS Dhoni chased down the target in just 17.4 overs, it couldn't be considered anything less than one of the best in the IPL.