Kohli’s ninth IPL hundred powers RCB to the top

After back-to-back ducks in his last two innings, Virat Kohli showed most emphatically that he had merely been out of runs and not out of form, scoring his ninth IPL hundred to lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to the top of the IPL 2026 table with a commanding win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Raipur.

Kohli’s unbeaten 60-ball 105 was a vintage effort in a run-chase – smooth, controlled, and full of both relentless sprinting between the wickets and gorgeous strokeplay, particularly at either end of his innings. That he never seemed stretched, however, was perhaps the story of the match – it may have been decided by the relative quality of the bowling attacks, particularly the seamers.

RCB’s bowlers did a superb job to keep KKR down to below 200 even though they only lost four wickets, and KKR’s inexperienced seam attack simply couldn’t match them for discipline and ability to extract misbehaviour from a slightly two-paced surface – with the caveat that it may have eased up a little during the second innings. (ESPNcricinfo)