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SPORTS                                                                       APRIL 23, 2021  |    The Indian Eye                          50



                                                                 iPl 2021




                         great centuries, big runs,




          fighting spirit and bright futures







             Glimpses of action on and off the pitch and what is happening in the dressing rooms



                                                                                                                       Kohli becomes first to make
                 oyal Challengers Ban-                                                                                           6,000 runs
                 galore (RCB) skipper                                                                                     Royal Challengers Bangalore
        RVirat Kohli lavished                                                                                         (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli on
        rich praise on Devdutt Padikkal,
        who scored his maiden IPL ton                                                                                 Thursday became the first bats-
        and helped the team register a                                                                                man to complete 6,000 runs in the
        thumping win over Rajasthan                                                                                   Indian  Premier League  (IPL).
                                                                                                                          Playing in his 196th IPL
        Royals in their Indian Premier                                                                                match here at the Wankhede
        League clash here at the Wank-                                                                                Stadium,  Kohli  achieved  the
        hede  on  Thursday  evening.                                                                                  feat in the 13th over against
            Padikkal’s unbeaten 101
        and Kohli’s 72 not out helped                                                                                 Rajasthan Royals. Kolhi and
        RCB beat Rajasthan by 10                                                                                      opener Devdutt Padikkal gave
                                                                                                                      a solid start to the side and put
        wickets, thus registering their                                                                               up a dominating show while
        fourth straight win in the on-                                                                                chasing 178. Kohli is leading the
        going tournament. “It was an                                                                                  IPL highest run-getter chart fol-
        outstanding inning. He (Pa-
        dikkal) batted really well for                                                                                lowed by Suresh Raina (5,448),
        his first season last time. There                                                                             Shikhar Dhawan (5,428) David
        was a lot of talk about him not                                                                               Warner (5,384) and Rohit Shar-
                                                                                                                      ma (5,368).
        accelerating after getting to                                                                                     Kohli was just 51 runs behind
        30s. He’s put all that to rest. It                                                                            the milestone figure before the
        was a good pitch to bat on to                                                                                 match. As soon he hit his 51st
        be honest, and him being tall
        meant that bowlers struggled          Devdutt Padikkal of Royal Challengers Bangalore raises his bat after scor-  run of the innings he became the
        with their lengths. T20 cricket      ing a fifty during the match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore and   first batter to do so in the IPL.
        is always about partnerships,”        the Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium. (ANI Photo/IPL Twitter)       natarajan goes out of
        Kohli said at the post-match                                                                                            tournament
        presentation.                                                                                                     SunRisers Hyderabad pacer
            When asked about his own
        knock, Kohli said, “You can’t                                                                                 T Natarajan has been ruled out
        always  go  big  from  the  word                                                                              from the ongoing 14th edition
        go. When one guy is going well,                                                                               of the Indian Premier League
                                                                                                                      (IPL). The pacer will be missing
        it’s important for me to ensure                                                                               the tournament due to a knee
        that I don’t lose my wicket. It                                                                               injury. “Yes, he has been ruled
        can change on other days.”                                                                                    out of the tournament,” the
            “We spoke about it (on the
        100). He told me to finish it off,                                                                            source pointed. The 30-year-old
        I told him to get to it first. He                                                                             left-arm pacer did not feature in
        said many will come, I said yeah                                                                              the last two games of SRH and
                                                                                                                      he just played two games this
        you can say that after you get to                                                                             season, taking two wickets.
        the landmark. He deserved to                                                                                      SRH has played four games
        get the three-figure mark,” he                                                                                in this IPL season so far, winning
        added.
            Chasing 178, RCB got              Shivam Dube of Rajasthan Royals and Riyan Parag of Rajasthan Royals     one  and losing three. In  their
        across the line in 16.3 overs to     during the match between the Royal Challengers bangalore and the Rajas-  last game against Punjab Kings,
        go back at the top of the points            than Royals in Mumbai on Thursday. (ANI Photo/IPL Twitter)        the Warner-led side registered a
        table.                                                                                                           Continued on next page... >>


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