Virat Kohli strikes at nearly 200, misses century in quest for big shot as RCB

Virat Kohli made full use of two lives to play a match-defining knock and, along with Rajat Patidar, take RCB to a 241/7, before Punjab Kings fall well short and get knocked out.

Nobody means to drop catches but when a team drops those offered by Virat Kohli, not once but twice, it often fears the worst. Risk-free accumulation is the bedrock of Kohli’s batting, even in T20 cricket, and if he gets lives, it makes him even more determined to dig in.

Punjab Kings had already played into Kohli’s hands, in some ways, by omitting their pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada and their miserly left-arm finger spinner Harpreet Brar, the style of bowling that has often kept Kohli in check in T20s. That skipper Sam Curran chose to field first meant Punjab Kings were devoid of express pace at the start and economy in the middle. The foundation for the 60-run defeat that knocked them out of play-off contention was laid with the choices made before a ball was bowled.