Virat Kohli opened up about his special relationship with the number 18 before Royal Challengers Bangalore’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Kohli wears the number on his jersey for both India and RCB.
On Thursday, May 18, another chapter was added to Virat Kohli and number 18’s folklore. The RCB batter hit his sixth IPL century in match 65 of the on going season at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
With the century, the 34-year-old tied Chris Gayle’s IPL record for most hundreds. Chasing 187 against SRH, RCB cruised to victory in 19.2 overs, with eight wickets in hand. Thanks to Kohli’s 100 off 63 balls, a magnificent innings that included 12 fours and four sixes.
Faf du Plessis (71 off 47) and Virat Kohli added 172 for the first wicket in 17.5 overs.
Now, Kohli’s knock on Thursday was the second time he had a three-figure score on the 18th date in the IPL. Exactly on May 18, 2016, the right-handed batsman scored a century for RCB against Punjab Kings (now Kings XI Punjab). Captaining the squad, Kohli smashed 113 off 50 balls at Bangalore’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Punjab won the toss and chose to bowl first, but they paid the price as Kohli and Gayle (73 off 32) scored 147 runs in 11 overs. Kohli hit 12 fours and eight sixes as RCB posted an impressive 211/3 on the board and went on to win by 82 runs (D/L method).
Some of his best performances were in the Tests that began on the 18th. Kohli hit 119 in the Johannesburg Test against South Africa on December 18, 2013. He produced another superb knock of 96 in the second inning of the test.
The Nottingham Test against England during the 2018 tour, which India won by 203 runs began on August 18th. Virat Kohli scored 97 on the first day of India’s 329-run total, and then added 103 in the second innings.
Virat Kohli on his connection with number 18
Virat Kohli gave his honest thoughts on why the number 18 is significant to him:
“There has to be a cosmic connection with this number. I find it quite surreal even now to be honest when I see so many people wearing my jersey number and name. It’s quite surreal because I never imagined that I would be in this position one day. I was a kid wanting to wear my hero’s jersey at a certain given point.”
“To be honest 18 started off just being a number that was given to me when I opened that first India U19 jersey. I never asked for it. It was just given to me. But then it ended up becoming
a very important number in my life. My debut came for India on 18th of August, 2008. My father passed away on the 18th of December, 2006. Two of the most significant dates in my life happened to be 18.”
Virat Kohli’s magnificent innings on Thursday has put the Royal Challengers Bangalore in a great position to make the playoffs. With 14 points from 13 matches and a net run rate of +0.180, they are presently fourth in the IPL 2023 points standings.