Virat Kohli went past England's Alex Hales on Thursday, April 25, to break the world record for most half-centuries by a player in T20 cricket at one venue after his 102nd fifty in the format, setting up Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) maiden home win in the ongoing IPL season. Kohli smashed a 42-ball 70 while being involved in a crucial 95-run stand for the RCB with Devdutt Padikkal against the Rajasthan Royals, which was his 26th fifty at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Kohli surpassed Alex Hales, the second-highest run-scorer in T20 cricket, who has 25 fifties in his name at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Now, Kohli has all the batting parameters in his favour - average, fifties, centuries, runs - in the T20 format while playing at a certain venue.
Most fifties at one venue in T20 cricket
26 - Virat Kohli at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
25 - Alex Hales at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
24 - James Vince at The Rose Bowl, Southampton
23 - Tamim Iqbal at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur, Dhaka
21 - Jason Roy at The Oval, London
Kohli also went past Chris Gayle with his tally of fifty-plus scores in T20 cricket (102 fifties and nine hundreds). Gayle, the leading run-getter in the T20 format, has 88 half-centuries and 22 hundreds in his name, a total of 110 fifty-plus scores and Kohli jumped to second place at 111, only behind David Warner's 117 (109 fifties and eight hundreds).
Kohli's knock also came in a quick time as he was striking at 166 when he got out for 70, but the tempo at which he played ensured that, despite a scratchy start, RCB didn't really slow down. Both Kohli and Padikkal went into the fifth gear from overs 11-15 before the Royals struck back, triggering a mini collapse. Jitesh Sharma and Tim David's crucial cameos helped RCB get to 205, which was eventually enough as the Royals failed to close out yet another chase, third in a row, well within their grasp.
This was RCB's first home win of the season and the three-time finalists got to 12 points with five games in the bag. The Royals, on the other hand, suffered their seventh defeat and now are in need of a lot more than just two points in each of their remaining five matches.