Synopsis: Belting Jacks and sweeping Kohli charge RCB’s late revival in the league
Will Jacks sleeps so soundly that he once failed to wake up during an earthquake of 5.2 magnitude in Antigua, when he was touring the West Indies with England last year. “Some of the guys said their whole room was shaking. But I was not aware of anything. I was in my sleeping zone.”
On Sunday, en route composing a hundred of the most belligerent tune, he was in his hitting zone, transforming to an earthquake of devastating magnitude. He took a while to find his notes. At one stage, he was going along at a run-a-ball 17. Then Jacks simply broke free with his neat swings down the ground, leaving the bowlers broken and bruised.
A memorable chase from @RCBTweets ✨
A partnership of 1️⃣6️⃣6️⃣* between Virat Kohli & Will Jacks power them to 🔙 to 🔙 wins ❤️
Will their late surge help them qualify for the playoffs?🤔
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/SBLf0DonM7#TATAIPL | #GTvRCB pic.twitter.com/Tojk3eCgxw
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 28, 2024
His first six — a legside clout off Mohit Sharma — seemed just a one-off. But soon, he would hum riffs of pure violence. By the end, it didn’t matter who the bowler was or where he pitched the ball. Rashid Khan, the spin-bowling czar, could only stare hollowly into the distance, as Jacks flogged him for 28 runs, including four sixes. The last one wrapped up the chase of 201 and completely his ludicrous hundred.
The over was the crescendo of some seriously outrageous hitting. The over before, he had bludgeoned Mohit Sharma for 29 runs, the sixes flowing as freely as the Sabarmati river beside the stadium. But the currents would not have been as powerful as Jacks’ strokes. Whatever little hopes Gujarat Titans nursed of defending the total was blown in this boundary barrage.
Need a maximum? 🤔
Call 📞 Will Jacks
Virat Kohli’s expression says it all 🫢💥
Recap the match on @starsportsindia and @officialjiocinema 💻📱#TATAIPL | #CSKvSRH | @RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/Kh8nn5qWRj
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 28, 2024
His hitting was obscenely simple. Tall and muscular, he made good use of his reach and swung either straight down the ground or across the line. All 10 sixes were smeared on the leg-side, 83 of the 100 came through the leg-side; 68 through the mid-wicket region alone. He hit them with such power that even the mistimed ones would speed to the boundary. To think that he ransacked 83 runs from 24 balls boggles the mind. For much of the chase, people were hoping to see Virat Kohli register another hundred. But it was meant to be the turn of Jacks. He reduced Kohli to almost a side-act, and the legend would later tell the broadcasters, “I was just happy to stay around and watch him go.”
Sweeping Kohli
The standout feature of Kohli’s knock was his remorseless sweeping. Usually sweep-shy, it was his statement stroke in this game. He would employ two varieties, the flat, square one and the lofted, loopy one. All of his sweeps were reserved for left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmed. The first was when he erred on the leg-side and he just helped it along the way. The bowler immediately shortened his length and Kohli cut him behind point for another four.
But more interesting ones came later in the piece. Noor beat him with a wrong’un before slipping in the faster skidder. Kohli knew this and hunkered to his knees in a flash and slotted it through mid-wicket. The next ball was faster and fuller and Kohli cleared his front leg and slogged him over long-on. It was the sort of ball he would have often flicked for a double. But the masterful batsmen is adding more layers to his batting, evolving with time even in the dusk of his career.
Clean striking ft. Virat Kohli 💥@RCBTweets cruising in the chase with 134/1 after 13 overs 👌👌
Watch the match LIVE on @StarSportsIndia and @JioCinema 💻📱#TATAIPL | #GTvRCB | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/AI3HW9HoOb
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 28, 2024
There, though, were grandeur strokes. After the watchful start, he kick-started his innings with a silken lofted off-drive off Rashid. He just extended his hands and snapped the wrists upwards at the moment of impact to take the ball over the bowler’s head. The next over, he uncorked a pair of imperious sixes off left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore — a straight-bat thump over his head off a short ball and a whippy flick over mid-wicket, a shot that was all furious wrists. If hitting spinners for sixes was his perceived vulnerability, he has duly rectified it.
Kohli was intense and angry, pushing himself on and celebrating milestones with vintage enthusiasm. He would later say, in an incensed tone: “There’s a reason why you do it for 15 years, for me, it’s only about doing the work, people can talk anything they want to, they can talk about me not able to push on (all the talk about strike rate), not playing spin well, but you yourself know the game better. We wanted to play more for our self respect.”
Soon though, Kohli was confined to ticking singles and twos, as Jacks broke free and wrapped up the game in 16 overs. If Jacks rendered Kohli’s batting a side-show, he consigned the efforts of Sai Sudharsan (84 not out) and Shahrukh Khan (58) to academic irrelevance. Play-offs could yet be an unreachable shore, but RCB is unwilling to surrender feebly yet.
Brief scores: Gujarat Titans 200/3 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 84 not out, Shahrukh Khan 58) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 206/1 in 16 overs (Will Jacks 100 not out, Virat Kohli 70 not out) by 9 wickets
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