Anchoring yet another successful chase with his well-calculated knock, batting star Virat Kohli says the strategy of him holding one end tight while others play in their usual aggressive style is working well for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. RCB won their fifth away game in as many matches with Kohli scoring an unbeaten 73 off 54 balls in a chase of 158 against Punjab Kings. The win came less than 48 hours losing to the same opponents. Kohli shared a 103-run partnership with Devdutt Padikkal (61) to crush the hosts by seven wickets.
Kohli said he could continue to be the fulcrum of the side around whom the other players could build their innings as the batting great scored his fourth half-century of the season, taking RCB to third position with 10 points from five victories.
“I thought Dev made a difference today, this award should go to him, I don’t know why they have given it to me. I can accelerate, but I want to understand the strengths of other players. Holding one end up at the moment, that’s working for us, ” Kohli said during the post-match presentation.
“We’ve set ourselves up nicely. Dev (Padikkal) can play around me, maybe Rajat (Patidar) can play around me. There’s always a temptation to keep going the same way. We know in a run chase in T20 cricket, one partnership is enough. If need be, I can accelerate,” said Kohli, who now has 8,326 IPL runs and 322 runs from eight games this season.
“It was a very important game for us. When you go from 8 (points) to 10, it makes a massive difference. We have played some amazing cricket away from home. The mindset has to be to get 2 points in every game,” said Kohli.
The 36-year-old said the IPL auction for this season had given the side a lot of balance, which was translating into good performance.
“A very good auction for us. We got the team we wanted. They (franchise owners) knew exactly whom they wanted. It’s coming together nicely. That was missing in all the other seasons. You can see that intensity and feistyness,” Kohli, who was the RCB captain for several years, said.
Skipper Patidar, who could not make an impact on Sunday, scoring just 12 runs, said both Padikkal and Kohli executed the team’s strategy to perfection.
“All credit goes to the bowlers. Dev and Kohli, the way they executed their plans was beautiful. It was a simple message for the bowlers to bowl a tight line. The way everyone has put in their efforts was beautiful. First of all, I have to win the toss over there (at home)! Whatever errors we have done, we’ll try to rectify.
Padikkal, who played the ideal foil to Kohli, said he feels confident when Kohli is at the other end of the 22-yard strip.
“There’s a lot of hard work that has gone in. You get that confidence when you’re batting with Kohli. It makes your job very easy. Playing for my home state and city is very special.
“There’s a lot of confidence in the side. Everyone’s getting runs. We have not batted in our home conditions. But hopefully we can come up with a plan.” PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer said the team was getting good starts but was failing to convert them into big scores. He added that the slow home wicket too did not help the team’s cause.
“If you see the majority of the batsmen, they love to go from ball one. We are not able to capitalise on the starts we are getting. The wicket is getting slower and slower.
“Even in the middle phase we thought we could take on the bowlers. Credit to Virat and the boys. We keep talking about adapting to the wicket. Few of the other middle-order batsmen need to step up; need to take the bull by the horns.
“I’m in a great mind space. Just that I need to cross 10 runs. I just need to be free-flowing as well. We’ve got six days of break, so it’s important we go back to the drawing board. It’s important to assess our body as well.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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