There is a version of Virat Kohli that seems to appear in high-stakes moments and somehow appears totally unfazed. Raipur saw exactly this on May 13, 2026 – a guy who hadn’t scored in his last two outings, walking into the spotlight, chasing 193 against one of the most intimidating bowling lineups in the IPL, and making it look almost too simple.
His unbeaten 105 off just 60 balls didn’t just win Royal Challengers Bengaluru the match against Kolkata Knight Riders. It pushed RCB to the top of the IPL 2026 points table, sent the cricketing world into a frenzy on social media, and quietly etched another milestone into an already impossible-to-believe career. Kohli had equalled Jos Buttler’s record for the most centuries during run-chases in IPL history — three. He also became the first Indian cricketer to register 10 T20 hundreds and, almost casually, the fastest ever to reach 14,000 runs in T20 cricket.
Not bad for someone who had just scored back-to-back ducks.
## Bounce Back The Psychology of a Champion
What makes a good player great? It’s a question cricket fans ask endlessly. And yet, time and again, Kohli provides the clearest possible answer.
Coming off consecutive golden ducks in IPL 2026, many observers were wondering — quietly, cautiously, not wanting to say it too loudly — whether the 37-year-old was finally showing the cracks that age eventually leaves on every cricketer. His IPL 2025 season had been brilliant, with 657 runs at an average of 54.75. So the ducks felt jarring, almost wrong.
Then came Raipur.
KKR had posted 192 for 4 in 20 overs, a total that looked very competitive on a surface that had clearly offered something to the seamers. In a rare team selection move, RCB had fielded all three of their overseas pace options — Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jacob Duffy, and Josh Hazlewood — and the bowling conditions had been real enough to worry any batting side. And yet, within the first two overs of RCB’s chase, it became clear that Kohli was not in the mood for another failure. He raced to 30 off 14 balls in the powerplay, hitting four boundaries and a hooked six off Kartik Tyagi.
This wasn’t a defensive, accumulating innings. It was assertive, almost aggressive from the outset — and, crucially, controlled throughout.
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## A Record That Tells the Whole Story
Kohli’s 105 not out was his ninth IPL century overall, placing him at the very top of the all-time list. But the specific record — most centuries in IPL run-chases — is the one that means the most in context.
T20 cricket is, by nature, unpredictable. Chasing totals in the format adds another layer of complexity: you’re working against a target, a clock, and a set of fielding restrictions that all shift as the innings progresses. For a batter to score three centuries while chasing in IPL history is a genuinely remarkable feat, one that speaks to consistency, match awareness, and an unusual ability to raise his game precisely when the stakes are highest.
His IPL run-chase numbers paint a vivid picture. Across 138 matches and 131 innings as a chaser, Kohli has accumulated 4,285 runs at an average of 42.42 and a strike rate of 136.42. When those chases have been successful, the numbers are even more striking — 2,784 runs across 76 matches at an average of 63.27 and a strike rate above 142. Three centuries, 20 fifties, and a best score of 108 not out (before May 13, at least).
These are not the numbers of someone who occasionally performs in pressure situations. This is a documented pattern over nearly two decades.
Is there any other T20 batter in the world who does this so consistently, so often, and across so many years?
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## The Knock Itself: Smooth, Controlled, Vintage Kohli
The match began after a rain delay of over an hour, and KKR gave a debut to Saurabh Dubey, a 28-year-old left-arm seamer from Vidarbha who had replaced the injured Akash Deep. Dubey’s opening over was excellent — seam movement in both directions, beat Jacob Bethell’s outside edge three times in the first four balls, conceded barely anything off the bat.
Kohli, facing a capable new-ball bowler on a pitch with movement, responded with a self-deprecating fist pump after nudging a single to get off the mark. No panic. No adjustment to a defensive mode. Just… calm.
What followed was a masterclass in run-chase batting. RCB were 66 for 1 at the end of the powerplay, Kohli already on 30. The middle overs saw him and Devdutt Padikkal build a sensible partnership, reaching 101 for 1 after 10 overs. By that point, the result was almost a formality — RCB needed 92 from 10 overs with nine wickets in hand, and their best player was at the crease and looking increasingly comfortable.
As the chase neared its conclusion, Kohli grew expansive. A straight six off Anukul Roy — barely any follow-through, the kind of stroke that looks effortless and is the result of exceptional timing — was followed by a whipped six off iron wrists against Tyagi. He reached his century with a single off Vaibhav Arora in the 19th over. Jitesh Sharma finished the game shortly after, with five balls to spare.
Final score: Kohli 105 not out off 60 balls, 11 fours, 3 sixes, strike rate of 175.
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## The Milestones Keep Coming
To catalogue everything Kohli achieved in that single knock requires a separate paragraph, honestly. Let’s try:
He became the first Indian batter to score 10 T20 centuries across all formats. He crossed 14,000 T20 runs — the first Indian to do so — and did it in just 409 innings, making him the fastest ever to that landmark, breaking Chris Gayle’s record of 423 innings. He brought up his ninth IPL century. He equalled Jos Buttler’s record of three IPL centuries in run-chases. And he equalled Rohit Sharma’s record for most Player of the Match awards in IPL history.
All in the same innings. Against a target of 193. After two consecutive ducks.
It’s almost absurd, when you put it like that. But then, that’s always been the Kohli experience. The 37-year-old is still — somehow, defiantly — the best run-scorer IPL history has ever seen. As of mid-May 2026, he has scored 9,145 runs in 279 IPL matches at an average of 40.11, with 9 centuries and 66 half-centuries.
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## RCB’s Faithful and Their Long Wait
This record-equalling knock also has a broader context worth noting: Kohli has been with RCB since the very first IPL season in 2008. Every IPL season for 19 years. No other player in IPL history has represented a single franchise for so long.
For much of that time, RCB’s story was one of extraordinary individual performances set against the backdrop of collective disappointment. “Ee Sala Cup Namdu” — this year the cup is ours — became a bittersweet chant that RCB fans knew all too well. They waited 17 years.
When RCB finally won the IPL title in 2025, beating Punjab Kings by 6 runs in the final, Kohli contributing 43 runs on a tricky surface, the collective emotion was something that Indian cricket fans across the country felt. The man had stayed loyal, kept performing, and eventually — finally — got the reward.
Now, a year later, RCB sit at the top of the 2026 table, driven again by their cornerstone. The current retention deal worth ₹21 crore runs through 2027, meaning this extraordinary partnership could extend to at least 20 seasons. Few athlete-club relationships in any sport anywhere in the world match it.
## What Kohli’s Record in Chases Means for Indian T20 Cricket Kohli’s mastery of chase situations is not just a personal achievement – it is emblematic of something larger, how Indian T20 cricket has grown. When the IPL began in 2008, chasing big totals in T20 was still considered a gamble. The psychological burden of knowing the target, feeling every run, watching the required rate climb — it put enormous pressure on batting sides.
Kohli, more than perhaps any other batter, helped reframe that narrative. His approach to run-chases — starting aggressively, controlling the middle phase, accelerating at the death — became a kind of template for how to chase successfully in T20s. His three IPL centuries while chasing, and his 2,784 runs in successful chases across 76 matches, are the data points that back this up.
And the partnership he has built with Devdutt Padikkal during RCB’s chases deserves mention too. The pair have shared 10 fifty-plus stands in successful IPL run-chases — the most by any pair — adding over 1,000 runs together in 14 successful chases. Against KKR, Padikkal contributed 39 before departing, exactly the kind of supporting innings that allowed Kohli the freedom to anchor the chase his way.
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## The Record Books and What Lies Ahead
Jos Buttler, the Englishman who Kohli has now drawn level with for IPL chase centuries, is one of the most destructive T20 batters of his generation. To share a record with him is no small thing. But given Kohli’s trajectory — still scoring at an average above 40 in IPL cricket after nearly two decades — there is every reason to believe he will push beyond this mark before he is done.
The IPL 2026 season is still being played out. RCB are at the top of the table. And Kohli, fresh off a century and back to his imperious best, looks every bit like the player who defined an era of T20 batting — not someone slowing down, but someone still writing chapters in a story that refuses to end.
Cricket, at its best, produces moments that feel impossible to fully describe. What Virat Kohli did in Raipur on May 13 — after two consecutive failures, under pressure, chasing a challenging target, in front of a watching nation — was one of those moments. He has been producing them for 18 years now.
And somehow, each one still manages to surprise you.
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King Kohli Does It Again: How Virat Kohli’s Record-Equalling IPL Century Against KKR Cemented His Legacy as Cricket’s Greatest Chase Master
