Virat Kohli and number 18: The 'cosmic' connection continues 

Ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) IPL 2023 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Virat Kohli opened up on his unique connection with the number 18. Kohli sports the number on his jersey, both for India and for RCB. But that’s just a small part of the larger story.

On Thursday, May 18, another chapter was added to the legend of Kohli and number 18 as the RCB batter notched up his sixth IPL ton in game number 65 of the ongoing edition at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

With the hundred, the 34-year-old equaled West Indies legend Chris Gayle’s record for most centuries in the IPL. Chasing 187 against SRH, RCB romped home in 19.2 overs, with eight wickets in hand, as Kohli hammered 100 off 63 balls, a superb knock that featured 12 fours and four sixes. He also brought up his hundred with a six.

The Indian batter and RCB skipper Faf du Plessis (71 off 47) added 172 for the opening wicket in 17.5 overs to set up the chase.

Now, Thursday's knock was the second instance of Kohli notching up a three-figure score on the 18th in the IPL. In fact, exactly on May 18, 2016, the right-handed batter smashed a ton for RCB against Punjab Kings (now Kings XI Punjab). Captaining the team, Kohli hammered 113 off only 50 balls at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Punjab won the toss and opted to bowl first, but had to rue the decision as Kohli and Gayle (73 off 32) added 147 in 11 overs. The former struck 12 fours and as many as eight sixes as RCB posted an imposing 211/3 on the board and went on to register a thumping 82-run win (D/L method).

In international cricket, some of his finest performances have come in Tests that began on the 18th. Kohli scored a wonderful 119 on December 18, 2013, in the Johannesburg Test against South Africa. In the second inning of the match, he contributed another excellent knock of 96.

The Nottingham Test against England during the tour of 2018, which India won by 203 runs, also began on the 18th of August. Kohli contributed 97 on the opening day in India’s total of 329 and followed it up with a superb 103 in the second innings.

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What Kohli said about his connection with number 18

In an interview with Star Sports that was telecast ahead of the SRH vs RCB game, Kohli shared his frank views on why the number 18 is special to him. He said:

"There has to be a cosmic connection with this number. I find it quite surreal even now to be honest when I see so many people wearing my jersey number and name. It's quite surreal because I never imagined that I would be in this position one day. I was a kid wanting to wear my hero's jersey at a certain given point.

Elaborating on why the number holds a lot of significance for him, he explained:

"To be honest 18 started off just being a number that was given to me when I opened that first India U19 jersey. I never asked for it, it was just given to me. But then it ended up becoming a very important number in my life. My debut came for India on 18th of August, 2008. My father passed away on the 18th of December, 2006. Two of the most significant dates in my life happened to be 18.”

Meanwhile, Kohli’s spectacular knock on Thursday has put RCB in a strong position to qualify for the playoffs. They are now fourth in the IPL 2023 points table, with 14 points from 13 matches and a net run rate of +0.180.