"To sit and talk in the box...!" Kohli's message to critics as RCB wrecks GT in IPL Match 45

On Sunday in Ahmedabad, two teams in the bottom half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table clashed in a high-voltage contest. After being asked to bat first, Gujarat Titans (GT) amassed a respectable total of 200 despite a slow start.

However, a remarkable century from Will Jacks, backed ably by Virat Kohli's impressive stroke play helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) chase down the target in just 16 overs with nine wickets to spare.

Jacks scored an unbeaten 100 off 41 balls while Kohli hit 70 runs off 44 balls. In a rather rare display of batting prowess, Kohli even used the sweep shot against the spinners as if to prove a point. Over the last few matches, after his approach in the middle overs was criticized for not being able to accelerate against the spinners.

Titans started using spin bowling early, and Kohli responded well by hitting consecutive sixes off the left-arm spinner Ravi Sai Kishore to show his clear intention. With yet another half-century this match, Kohli surpassed Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan to become the second player to hit the most half-centuries in a run-chase in the history of IPL.

During the post-match interview, Kohli said, "All the people who talk about strike-rates and me not playing spin well are the ones talking about this stuff. For me, it's about winning the games for the team and there's a reason why I've done it for 15 years... I'm not quite sure that if you haven't been in that situation yourself, to sit and talk about the game in the box... people can talk about their assumptions, but those who have done day in and day out, they know what's happening and it's a kind of muscle memory for me now."

Will Jacks, on the other end, started slow with only 30 runs coming from the first 23 balls that he faced. Then he went all out to hit 70 runs in the next 18 balls, hitting four sixes and a four off Rashid Khan to finish the game much earlier than anticipated. The English player hit a total of 10 sixes in his impressive performance. Remarkably, he took just six minutes to reach the century from his fifty.

"It's amazing, he (Kohli) s a legend of the game and is someone everyone looks up to. To spend some time in the middle is a great feeling a huge learning curve. When I go away from the IPL, I'll learn so much from batting with him and playing with him. I'll try to take it all on board. I need to be a bit more adaptable at the beginning of my innings and get myself in a little bit quicker," Jacks said.

Earlier, Shahrukh Khan scored 58 runs off 30 balls after being promoted in the batting order, while Sai Sudharsan remained unbeaten on 84 runs off 49 balls to help Gujarat Titans reach a total of 200 for three. The pair had an 86-run partnership from 45 deliveries. Sudharan scored his second consecutive fifty-plus runs with a total of eight boundaries and four sixes.

"We wanted to step up for ourselves, play for our self respect. We can't be playing the way we played in the first half of the tournament, we wanted to see the ball as well, we are attacking way more, the fielders are putting their bodies on the line, that's the way we want to play," said Kohli.

RCB, who are facing a challenging season, secured their third victory in 10 games while Titans endured their sixth defeat in 10 matches. The team led by Faf du Plessis appeared to have gained momentum as they achieved consecutive victories on Sunday.