Virat Kohli could still joke about his second-consecutive duck in IPL 2026, thanking Andy Flower for "giving me some work" when asked to deliver the team speech after Royal Challengers Bengaluru's thrilling final-ball win against Mumbai Indians a few nights earlier.
Only once before had Kohli made back-to-back ducks in the league. It was during that strange phase in 2022, when every innings seemed to be weighed against the absence of a century. That drought lasted 1020 days.
Four years later, even in a season where he isn't leading the Orange Cap race, there remains a possibility that he could still finish atop it. Which is why it felt almost absurd that Kohli was nervous coming into the game against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday night.
Ultimately, his unbeaten 105 took RCB to the top of the points table. He delivered his ninth IPL century, and earned his 21st IPL Player of the Match award.
"Well, there's a reason why people say pressure is a privilege," Kohli said after RCB's eighth win of the season. "It actually keeps you humble, keeps you focused, makes you work hard at practice again. You can't take things for granted.
"Butterflies in the stomach, good pressure always helps you to improve your game. So I was in the nets working harder, training harder. When you're playing well, you can tend to kind of taper off a little bit with your intensity and focus.
"But I think a couple of games that don't go your way, you start feeling a bit of nervousness again. It helps you to go out there and work on your game and back yourself even more, which takes a lot of effort out of you."
Kohli celebrated his first run with a fist pump and a yelp in Raipur. He traded some of that old metronomic run-scoring consistency for a more forceful approach, which has worked wonders since late 2024.
Kohli now has greater urgency and a greater appetite for domination, as Vaibhav Arora quickly found out. Kohli hit four boundaries, showcasing his full range; the nonchalant flick and the awe-inspiring back-foot punch over cover were the standouts.
"I know if I bat for long enough in the game, our chances of winning become higher. So the fact that I didn't get many runs in the last two games was, it eats me up" Virat Kohli
As he reeled off boundaries, the emotions began to flow. If the fist pump after his first run exuded relief, the bicep-point towards the dugout after he hammered Cameron Green imperiously in front of square to move into the 40s was all swagger. By the halfway mark of the chase, there was a sense of inevitability, with his half-century coming off 32 balls.
The crowd braved thunderstorms merely to watch him bat. Truth be told, many would have gone home content simply watching him bowl exaggerated inswingers at warm-ups and enjoying himself like a kid again. Instead, he gave them a spectacle.
Kohli's picking of lengths, like when he quickly sashayed back to hammer a pull that bisected long-on and deep midwicket off Sunil Narine, who had the better of the match-up coming in, seemed to thrill him.
"Just my positions at the crease, you know," Kohli responded when asked about the most pleasing aspect of his innings. "Not trying to do anything extravagant, just backing my game, hitting a lot of fours, hitting gaps, being clear as to where I wanted to hit sixes, which length I wanted to hit sixes from, and just staying in the game, like running a lot of twos, hitting the boundaries where needed, picking length, hitting the gaps that I know I can hit.
"So I was happy for the fact that I was able to back my game and execute the shots that I usually execute to the best of my ability. And that gets me the most consistent, the most risk-free cricket, keeping the demands of the situation always in front of me and the team's need always at the top of my head. So all these factors were very pleasing for me out there."
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When Devdutt Padikkal fell and Rajat Patidar fell, having looked slightly vulnerable against the short ball, KKR had a brief inkling of hope. RCB needed 60 off 36. There was a hint of pressure beginning to gnaw at them, but Kohli shredded it in a way only he knows.
And bearing the brunt was….Arora again. Kohli pounced on him with something close to vengeance. His wrists snapped violently in sync, the bat coming through with that familiar whip to send the ball screaming past long-on. Another boundary followed in the over, and the chase was back to being regulation again.
Then came the shot that perhaps captured his control over the evening best: a lofted hit off Anukul Roy, the left-arm spinner. Kohli didn't get to the pitch of the ball, he still went through with the stroke, and the moment he made contact, he simply looked away knowing where it was headed.
As the final three overs approached, the "Kohli, Kohli" chants began to swell. And almost on cue, Kohli responded with a stroke that belonged in a museum. Kartik Tyagi went full and angled into middle and off, Kohli merely shuffled into position and whipped it over midwicket with those extraordinary wrists that continue to defy both geometry and age. The timing was so pure it barely seemed struck and still went for six. He now stood admiring the arc for a touch longer than he had earlier.
As he neared a century, he was enjoying it so much that his chase master energy gave way to a few funny dance moves to the DJ's beats. But when he got to three-figures, there was nothing more than a simple wave to the dugout.
"Well, the celebration wasn't a big one because we know the importance of the points right now," Kohli said. "Look, for me, it's a conscious effort to try and contribute to the team's scores. And I know if I bat for long enough in the game, our chances of winning become higher. So the fact that I didn't get many runs in the last two games was, it eats me up in a way that I know I can play well and I'm hitting the ball well.
"But when you don't carry on and you know you haven't created the impact for the team, it bothers you because that's basically been the goal all these years. So, yeah, century or no century, I think the more important thing is finishing the game, making sure that I was out there till the end to get those two points, which again, puts us at the top of the table."
You could sense the knock meant something beyond just a statistical landmark. It wasn't a rescue act, but full-blown authority and control, the kind Kohli loves to wield with the bat in hand. And it reaffirmed something significant: That nervous energy still exists and pressure still matters. That after all the runs, records and centuries, the thrill of competition still burns intensely enough to drag him back to the nets the next day after a failure.
"I just give my heart and soul out there on the field, whether I'm fielding or batting, because it's going to finish one day," Kohli said. "And I want to make the most of every day that I'm on the field and just enjoy myself and have a lot of fun and look forward to a pressure situation, look forward to scenarios where I'm feeling a bit of heat.
"And then I challenge myself to say, you know what, just go for it. And when you cross the line, it makes you a better player. And sport, as you know, teaches you a lot as a person as well. So you build your character slowly and surely when you keep performing under pressure. And for me, even after all these years and numbers and whatever you said, it's still the love for the game. I just love hitting the ball in the middle of the bat. And that joy is still there."
Nobody summed it up better than Krunal Pandya did after RCB's previous game, when he was asked whether there was any concern around Kohli following the pair of ducks.
Krunal merely smiled at the suggestion. "If he doesn't score runs in two games, I get very excited," he said. There was laughter around him then, but you could now feel the sense of what he meant.
"There is incredible hunger in Virat Kohli. He's a different beast. There is never any tension about Virat Kohli. I'm pretty sure he will again do Virat Kohli things. There is no doubt about it."
Three nights later in Raipur, he certainly had.