Virat Kohli: A Century Hero Despite 9 Stitches

(Virat Kohli celebrates after scoring a century with 9 stitches)

16 matches, 973 runs, 81.08 average, and a strike rate of 152.03. You may be curious about these figures, and considering the average, it could seem like the statistics of a player in the test format. Well, these are the numbers of Virat Kohli’s 2016 IPL season where he was just phenomenal and broke almost every record that came his way. But the most iconic picture of Kohli’s 2016 IPL campaign was of celebrating his century in a 15 overs per side match where he played this innings with 9 stitches in his hand. After completing his century, the first reaction of him was to point toward his stitches and show that nothing could stop him.

How Did Virat Kohli End Up with 9 Stitches on His Hand?

In the IPL 2016, the Royal Challengers Bangalore was in a bothersome position and needed 4 wins from the last 4 matches to qualify for the playoffs. This is where the beast inside Virat Kohli came into power and he stepped up in the upcoming games. During the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, Andre Russell played a shot against Yuzvendra Chahal and it went straight to the deep cover where Virat Kohli grabbed the ball on the second bounce after diving on the ground. However, when he hit the ground, Kohli’s finger got cut and hence he had to walk off the field.

(Virat Kohli’s hand with 8-9 stitches on it)

However, just after an over, Kohli returned to the field with a taped left hand and he said that his webbing was completely split and needed stitches. In the second innings, Virat Kohli batted with an injury and scored 75 runs from just 51 balls to help his team chase the target and get the two points. Later, it was revealed by Kohli in the post-match presentation while receiving the Man of the Match award that he had got 8-9 stitches and his hand was paining badly. But it wasn’t enough for Virat Kohli and he batted extremely well in the match.

Kohli's Unforgettable Century against Punjab Kings

With just 48 hours of getting 8-9 stitches on his left hand, Virat Kohli was back on the field against the Punjab Kings on 18th May 2016. Due to rain, the match was made to 15 overs per side and hence with Royal Challengers Bangalore looking to get a win with a better Net Run Rate, the ideal situation was to bat first and pile up the runs. With Punjab Kings winning the toss at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, they went with the record and elected to chase at this ground.

Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle came out to bat for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and it was a complete mayhem from their side. They started taking on the bowlers well and the boundaries being short helped them to get the runs easily. Both of them completed a century partnership in just 9 overs and it was Virat Kohli who completed his century from just 28 balls. At 147 runs, Chris Gayle departed with 73 runs from just 32 balls and soon after that, AB de Villiers was dismissed for 0 runs which led KL Rahul to come to the party.

(Virat Kohli celebrating after scoring a century against Punjab Kings)

In the 13th over of the innings which was bowled by Sandeep Sharma, Virat Kohli scored a boundary to complete his century from just 47 balls and it was his 4th century of the season. He removed his helmet and started pointing towards his hand that had stitches to celebrate the century and ended up with a roar. For the crowd, seeing Virat Kohli smashing a century with so much pain was something that they were witnessing for the first time.

At the end of the 14th over, Virat Kohli was finally dismissed by Sandeep Sharma when he was looking to clear the long-off but failed to do so he was caught by David Miller. With the help of 12 boundaries and 8 sixes, Virat Kohli scored 113 runs from just 50 balls faced and it was a knock that was acknowledged by everyone present at the stadium.

(Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle during their 147 runs partnership against Punjab Kings)

Royal Challengers Bangalore smashed a total of 211 runs with the loss of 3 wickets from their 15 overs and everyone was shocked to see how a team can get to a total in just 15 overs. Coming to chase this target, Punjab Kings managed to start well but the wickets of Murali Vijay and Wriddhiman Saha were enough to get them behind in the match. After that, no batter was able to give them the innings that the team needed and hence Punjab was able to score only 120 runs with the loss of 9 wickets in the 14 overs that they played.

RCB vs PBKS, 50th match at Bengaluru, May 18 2016
211/3 (15 overs)	120/9 (14 overs)
Virat Kohli 113 (50)	Wriddhiman Saha 24 (10)
Sandeep Sharma 1/29 (3 overs)	Yuzvendra Chahal 4/25 (3 overs)
Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 82 runs (D/L method)

From the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Yuzvendra Chahal proved to be the best bowler as he ended up with 4 wickets from just 3 overs bowled and gave away 25 runs in his spell. Virat Kohli was adjudged the Man of the Match for his sublime knock of 113 runs from just 50 deliveries. In the press match presentation, Virat Kohli said:

“When all that was happening out there, I thought surely I can't get a 100 in 15 overs. I didn't believe that it was happening. Chris looked dangerous in the last game, he was in the zone again today. Everything's coming together. In the previous tournaments, we panicked. But hopefully, we can continue what we have been doing. My main aim is to get runs, it doesn't matter how I play. Momentum is a big thing in T20s when you get into the zone, you feel you can hit any ball. So you just want to give yourself. I didn't hit any balls because I was injured, but when I settled down, I thought I shouldn't think about my stitches. When I got the flow going, and the pain went away, I was able to play shots. T20s is just three hours a day. You still have 21 hours away, so why relax on the field? ”

With so much determination and passion, Virat Kohli was the Man of the Tournament in the 2016 season and was the top run-scorer. However, his team failed to clinch the IPL Trophy as they lost the Finals against Sunrisers Hyderabad by just 8 runs.