6 years ago on this day, Virat Kohli hit his first ever Indian Premier League hundred

Virat Kohli may be struggling for runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, but it was not the case in IPL 2016. No other player in the history of the IPL has scored more runs or hundreds as Kohli did in 2016.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore star went on to amass a record 973 runs in 16 matches at an average of 81.08. He scored four hundreds in the tournament, which is the most by any batsman in a single season. And the first of those four hundred came on this very day, exactly six years ago.

Kohli was cramping, limping for his singles in the scorching sun at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot but didn’t give up as he went on to score his maiden IPL hundred off just 63 balls against Gujarat Lions on April 24, 2016.

#OnThisDay in 2016, Virat Kohli got to his first #IPL , scoring a brilliant 100* off 63 balls against the Gujarat Lions in Rajkot. #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #IPL2022 #Mission2022 #RCB #RCB pic.twitter.com/QvptYXVxVa

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 24, 2022

Kohli needed 15 runs in the last over to get to his landmark score. He snapped at KL Rahul who has batting at the non-striker’s end when the Karnataka batsman didn’t respond to his call for the second run.

However, he hit a six, four and one more boundary off Dwayne Bravo’s over to get to his maiden T20 hundred in the last ball of the innings.

“It’s a good feeling but the game’s not over, it’s just half of it. Today was one of those days when I didn’t expect myself to get a hundred,” he said after the first innings.