(Reuters) – Former India captain Virat Kohli said he feels at the top of his game and is playing the best Twenty20 cricket of his career after scoring a record seventh century in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday.
Opener Kohli scored an unbeaten 101 off 61 balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore, smashing 13 fours and a six during his innings, though it was not enough to guide his side to victory.
Bangalore’s six-wicket defeat to Gujarat Titans saw them fail to make the playoffs.
“A lot of people feel my T20 cricket is declining, but I don’t feel like that at all. I feel I am playing my best T20 cricket again,” said Kohli after his second consecutive century.
“I’m just enjoying myself, this is how I play T20 cricket. I look to hit gaps, hit a lot of boundaries and the big ones in the end if the situation allows me to.
“You have to read the situation and rise up to the occasion when the situation demands, and that’s something I take a lot of pride in doing … I feel really good with my game at the moment and how I’m batting out there in the middle.”
Kohli overtook his former Bangalore team mate Chris Gayle for most centuries in the IPL.
Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis said Kohli, 34, has a lot of cricket left in him.
“It just shows you Virat has got a lot left in the tank in T20 cricket as he is playing really well still,” the South African added.
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
