'Someone in dressing room said you would score a century today': Du Plessis to Kohli after RCB maverick's 6th IPL ton

Interestingly, captain Faf Du Plessis pointed out that someone in the RCB change room had already predicted Virat Kohli's much-awaited century against SRH.

The legend of Virat Kohli continues to grow. On Thursday, Kohli, the master of chase came to fore as he and Faf du Plessis single-handedly chased down Sunrisers Hyderabad's 186 to give Royal Challengers Bangalore a realistic shot at reaching the IPL 2023 Playoffs. Kohli peeled off his sixth IPL century, equalling Chris Gayle for the most hundreds in the league's history. The same Kohli, who struggled to score a single run last IPL, is back piling runs this year and has taken his tally to 538 runs and is currently placed 4th in the Orange Cap list.

Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli are gunning for 1000 runs as a pair in this year's IPL for RCB. (PTI)

This was Kohli's first IPL century since 2019 and his seventh 50-plus score this season. Kohli looked set for a century during all of his previous six fifties but somehow wasn't able to. This time around, the jinx was broken but interestingly, as captain Du Plessis pointed out, someone in the RCB change room had already predicted Kohli's much-awaited three-figure score.

Faf: I am here with the man of the hour, Mr. Virat Kohli. Someone in the dressing room said that you were going to get a hundred today.

Kohli: I wonder who it was. Francois du Plessis. We were chatting there just before we came out to bat. We had a conversation and Faf said that he had a gut feeling about one of the top three getting a 100. I said 'The odds of someone getting a hundred looks like you given the way you are batting right now. But he said 'No, I think it's you'. You called it. I honestly didn't feel like it would happen so quickly. But I am more happy about the fact that we got a decent start - 172 on the board. That partnership really set things up nicely for us in a crunch game and that is exactly what we've been playing for.

Throughout IPL 2023, RCB have shared a plethora of Kohli videos where he has looked in imperial form, and while he was able to showcase the same in the matches, the former captain mentioned he didn't quite feel up to the mark. Although Kohli scored fifties for fun, fingers were pointed at him for his strike rate and not scoring as briskly as others. Admitting how Du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell's forms were instant motivators, Kohli revealed he wanted to bring a lot more to the table for RCB.

"I was talking to Deep [Dasgupta]. I said 'The way I have been batting in the nets, I couldn't really bring that game into the surface. I just felt like this pitch was nice enough with the new ball specially. For me to get going the way I have in the first 8-9 games, I wanted to pick my game up at this stage," he added.

"I felt that You and Maxi have really taken your game to the next level and I just wanted to join in and make an impact as well. As soon as I got two boundaries off Bhuvi, I felt like they went onto the backfoot immediately. And those weren't shots that were forced. I just felt that good cricketing shots will send them a signal that I'm here to play with intent."