For scoring 213 runs from three matches in the Indian Premier League including a maiden Twenty20 century, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli is the Cricket World Player of the Week.

In the 14th game of the tournament, Kohli added 59 runs for the second wicket with AB de Villiers off just 39 deliveries and things were looking ominous for the Mumbai Indians.

But a double strike in the 11th over from Krunal Pandya removed both set batsmen and shifted the momentum towards Mumbai, who completed the chase of 171 riding on a half-century from Rohit Sharma and cameos from Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard.

In game 16 against the Rising Pune Supergiants, Kohli played a steady knock of 80 and added 155 runs for the second wicket with de Villiers, who himself scored a 46-ball 83.

Royal Challengers Bangalore posted 185 in their 20 overs which they defended by 13 runs despite a fine half-century from Ajinkya Rahane. Kane Richardson impressed for Bangalore with a three-wicket haul and had an economy rate of 4.33.

The Indian Test skipper took a step further in game 19 against the Gujarat Lions where he notched his maiden Twenty20 century which came off just 63 deliveries.

Bangalore were in a spot of bother, losing Shane Watson and de Villiers early but Kohli added an unbeaten 121 runs for the third wicket with Lokesh Rahul to ensure a strong finish of 180 runs in 20 overs for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Kohli scored a six and a couple of boundaries in the final over to reach the three-figure mark while Rahul remained unbeaten on 51 at the other end.

However, Kohli’s effort was undone by an unbeaten fifty from Dinesh Karthik and cameos from openers Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum as the Lions chased down the target in the final over.

Kohli’s closest competitor for the award was Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner, who is in phenomenal form and has been instrumental in getting his team’s campaign back on track.

In the 12th game against Mumbai Indians, Warner played a lone fight with an unbeaten 90 off 49 deliveries in a chase of 143.

His onslaught continued in game 15 against the Gujarat Lions where he notched another brilliant unbeaten 74 as Sunrisers Hyderabad registered their second win chasing down 136 leaving Suresh Raina’s 75 in vain.

In game 18, Warner scored a hat-trick of fifties to defeat Kings XI Punjab and is currently the second highest run-getter in the tournament with 294 runs from five games behind Kohli.

The third best performance in the week came from Mumbai Indians skipper Sharma, who scored 65 against the Delhi Daredevils in game 17 apart from his half-century earlier against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

A valiant 60 from Sanju Samson against Mumbai Indians, a breathtaking spell of nine for two from four overs by Mustafizur Rahman against Punjab and a fighting fifty from Suryakumar Yadav in 20th game against Pune were other key individual performances in the week.

© Cricket World 2016