Ambati Rayudu rates the slowest century in IPL by Virat Kohli as one of the finest knocks of his IPL career
Virat Kohli scored a century, but the result was the same for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He was the only batter who batted well for the franchise, but even his 113 runs were not enough to take the team to a win. Rajasthan Royals won the game by 6 wickets, with Jos Buttler smashing a hundred. Kohli batted till the last over to make sure Bengaluru posted a respectable total. The rest of the batters again disappointed. Glenn Maxwell scored just 1, while Green took 6 balls to amass just 5 runs.
Kohli has been often accused of batting slowly and not meeting the standards of the shortest format. He faced 74 balls, and his runs came at a strike rate of 156.34. He reached a hundred on 67 balls and equalled the record of the slowest hundred in the cash-rich league.
Slowest Centuries in IPL
67 – Manish Pandey (RCB) vs Deccan Chargers in 2009
67 – Virat Kohli (RCB) vs RR in 2024
66 – Sachin Tendulkar (MI) vs KTK in 2011
66 – David Warner (DC) vs KKR in 2010
66 – Jos Buttler (RR) vs MI, Mumbai in 2022
Ambati Rayud, who had previously blamed Kohli for RCB’ ‘s failures in IPL, hailed the batter.
“He batted exceptionally well. Don’t talk about his strike rate and look at what others did with the bat. For me, it is one of the finest hundreds of his career. Kohli batted till the end, and it was his hundred that took the team to a fighting total. The pitch was slow, and he understood the conditions.
“The problem is not Virat’s strike rate but the performance of the remaining batters. They are not simply contributing. What was Dinesh Karthik doing in the dugout? He should have come before Maxwell and Green. Mahipal Lomror, who played a crucial role in their only win, is not even a part of the Playing XI,” he said.
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