Watch: Virat Kohli smashes a breathtaking 58-ball century at Raipur to set RCB win vs KKR in IPL 2026

Heading into the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash between the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, the spotlight was on Virat Kohli after two successive golden ducks, and he smashed a blistering 58-ball century. 

Chasing 193 runs, the defending champions needed someone to stay till the end and handled the pressure, especially against Sunil Narine. Kohli smashed Vaibhav Arora for four boundaries in the second over of the second innings, three of which came on successive balls.

From first six to the century ball- breaking down Kohli’s 58-ball masterclass against KKR

Virat Kohli, after losing Jacob Bethell, took the aggressive route and smacked Kartik Tyagi for a massive six. It was a back of a length delivery angled in to the batter, who used the pace to stay inside the line and lapped it over the long-leg region. He completed 400 runs in IPL 2026, which is his 12th such instance in the league. 

Watch Kohli’s century here:

The former Indian captain notched up his half-century off just 32 balls. But the job was undone. It was his fourth 50+ score against the Knight Riders out of the last five innings of the competition. 

There was a little pressure on the required run-rate after Devdutt Padikkal’s wicket, and Kohli slashed Arora with two more boundaries in the 15th over of the innings. The veteran cleared his front leg and pulled the short ball from Anukul Roy for a four into the mid-wicket region before cracking another six two balls later.

See Also: Watch: Virat Kohli out for a golden duck again! RCB stumble early chasing 167 against MI in IPL 2026

With a single, he celebrated his ninth century in IPL history. It was also his tenth T20 century, as he joined David Warner in the list, topped by Chris Gayle (22). He remained unbeaten on 105 runs off 60 balls, thanks to 11 boundaries and three sixes.

Kohli now has smashed 484 runs in 12 innings of the IPL at an average of 53.77 and a strike rate of 165.75, shouldering on three fifties and one century.

Kohli dismantled KKR's bowling to hand RCB six-wicket victory

Apart from Kohli’s knock, it would have been a hard chase for the Bengaluru side, who have now moved to the top of the points table with 16 points in 12 games at a net run rate of +1.053. The next best score of the 2016 runners-up was 39 runs off 27 balls. That draws the difference between the skills of the players.

See Also: Watch: Angkrish Raghuvanshi smashes 32-ball half-century to silence Raipur crowd in RCB vs KKR IPL 2026

Kolkata batted well earlier to post 192 runs for the loss of four wickets as Angkrish Raghuvanshi nailed 71 runs off 46 balls, thanks to seven boundaries and three sixes. RCB completed the chase by six wickets with five balls to spare. 

Twitter erupts as Kohli turns back the clock with one of his most explosive IPL innings ever 

Here is how the fans have erupted to the special century of Kohli during the IPL 2026 clash against the Knight Riders-