Virat Kohli starred in Royal Challengers Bangalore's epic thrashing of Kolkata Knight Riders in the first match of the Indian Premier League.

Kohli remained unbeaten on 59 off just 36 balls, on Saturday.

Playing at Eden Gardens on March 21, Kohli came out with aggressive intent alongside Phil Salt. The duo were so lethal that KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane was forced to bring in Varun Chakravarthy in the fourth over of the match itself. Kohli played some sensational shots on the day, managing to score four boundaries and three sixes.

Apart from his straight-batted shots that flew over long-off and long-on, Kohli viciously pulled and swept the balls on Sunday.

While Kohli was always a good puller of the ball, he never quite believed in slog-sweeping the spinners in the IPL before.

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The slog-sweep turned out to be Kohli's main weapon against the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, which helped him score at a high rate on Saturday. In earlier seasons, Kohli would generally rotate the strike and let his partner hit the big shots against the spinners.

However, this new shot might turn out to be a major headache for opposition sides, believed Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan.

The duo discussed Kohli's innings after the match and argued that this could be a season to remember for the senior batter.

"As captain, you are thinking, let's slow down Kohli with spin. But if he starts taking down spin, where do captains go? Because this is a shot (slog sweep) that we do not see often from Virat Kohli," Abhinav Mukund asked Shikhar Dhawan on the broadcast after the match.

"Yes, we do not see the sweep shot, the slog shot quite often from Virat Kohli. Of course, it's going to get tough for the spinners because earlier he used to just rotate the strike.

If he keeps on doing that, he is going to be more lethal," Shikhar Dhawan said.

RCB will next play Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. They will have a good gap of 4 days to prepare for the game.

RCB will next play Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. They will have a good gap of 4 days to prepare for the game.