Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to a six-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with a hundred in the style of yesteryear and an undefeated 105 off 60 balls, reclaiming the top position in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 points standings at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Wednesday.

After Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s fluent 71 and Rinku Singh’s undefeated 49 helped Kolkata Knight Riders reach 192/4, Kohli produced a magnificent, unbroken century for RCB at a strike-rate of 175, which included 11 fours and three sixes. This was Kohli’s 9th IPL century and tenth overall in T20s, and it was enough for RCB to win the chase with five balls remaining.

After a 75-minute rain delay, Kohli treated the Raipur crowd to a chasing masterclass, with most of his shots coming through the leg side. The crowd was ecstatic.

RCB started cautiously in their pursuit of 193, with Saurabh Dubey making his debut and giving up just two runs in the first over.

After Vaibhav Arora made a mistake in line in the second over, Kohli took advantage of the opportunity by scoring four boundaries, including a rasping cut and a flick over square leg. Jacob Bethell likewise assaulted Dubey with a six and two fours before Kartik Tyagi caught and bowled him out.

But Powell dropped Kohli at cover, and Tyagi pulled him for six, indicating that he was still unperturbed. With boundaries off Tyagi and Narine, Devdutt Padikkal joined in, and the duo contributed fluency to the chase by scoring 92 runs for the second wicket.

As Kohli scored his fifty in 32 balls and Padikkal consistently identified flaws, the partnership flourished.

However, Tyagi shattered the stand when he knocked Padikkal out for 39 runs with an off-cutter. Despite Kohli maintaining control of the boundaries, Rajat Patidar was never himself after taking a hit to the head and eventually succumbed to Narine.

Tyagi’s wrists produced an amazing towering six to push Kohli into the nineties as the equation was under perfect control. In the 19th over, he struck a single off Arora to reach his ninth IPL century, giving a brief wave of his bat in recognition of the cheers.

Jitesh Sharma made sure there was no late drama even though Tim David was dismissed cheaply. In a chase that was characterized by intent and control, and never allowed the asking rate to increase, he grabbed Dubey’s short ball for four to secure the victory, needing three off the final over.

With the triumph, they were able to reclaim the top spot in the points standings and put an end to KKR’s four-game winning streak.

Raghuvanshi previously anchored KKR’s innings on a pitch where the odd ball stayed low, scoring seven fours and three sixes in his 46-ball innings, which had a strike rate of 154. 35. In his undefeated 29-ball stay, he created partnerships of 68 and 76 not with Cameron Green (32) and Rinku, who scored three fours and two sixes.

Raghuvanshi made sure the scoreboard was ticking by regularly discovering boundaries. Despite the fact that Green wasn’t at his fluent best, Rinku’s finishing flourish brought KKR over 190. In the meanwhile, RCB’s bowling was ineffective, and their fielding was careless, with numerous errors.

Although Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, and Rasikh Salam Dar each took a wicket, none were able to effectively halt the scoring.

Finn Allen was sent in to bat first, and KKR lost him early in the third over when Bhuvneshwar found his outside edge and Jitesh Sharma caught him. Despite hitting three boundaries and a six, Ajinkya Rahane’s promising start came to an end when he gave Hazlewood a top edge off of his own bowling for 19.

Raghuvanshi then took charge, hitting the ball over mid-wicket and cleanly through the off-side. In the 13th over, Rasikh’s skiddy ball bowled out Green, who had been a capable teammate, scoring 32 with three fours and a six.

In the 14th over, Raghuvanshi scored his fourth fifty of the season in 32 balls, making him the youngest KKR batsman to ever hit four 50+ runs in a single IPL season. In the last few overs, when Rinku had speeded up after being cautious at first, he continued to anchor the innings, mixing placement with strength.

Raghuvanshi and his electric running between the wickets helped KKR rotate the strike effectively. By the time the innings ended, with every KKR batter making a contribution, Raghuvanshi was out trying to score a second run off the final ball, ending his score at 71, while Rinku was still at the crease.

However, Kohli’s outstanding run-chase completely overshadowed all of that.

Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 192/4 in 20 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 71, Rinku Singh 49 not out; Josh Hazlewood 1-35, Rasikh Salam 1-35)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 194/4 in 19.1 overs (Virat Kohli 105 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 39; Kartik Tyagi 3-32, Sunil Narine 1-31)