Mumbai : Virat Kohli led the 169 chase from the front with his sumptuous 73 as Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Gujarat Titans by 8 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Match 67. With the win, Bangalore kept their play-offs hopes alive.
Virat Kohli, said, ‘ I can keep going. It was an important game. I was disappointed that I haven’t done much for my team and that is what bothers me, not the stats. Today was a game where I was able to create an impact for the team. Puts us in a good position.
There are expectations because of the performances that you have put in. You need to keep the perspective right. You can forget the process in order to live up to the expectations. I have worked really hard. I batted 90 minutes in the nets yesterday. I came in very free and relaxed. It is in that spur of the moment why is it happening to me. It goes back to 2018 in England when I was dropped on 21 and the juggernaut could have started again like it did on the 2014 tour.
I won’t be standing here being ungrateful for all that I have achieved. With the very first shot of Shami, I felt I could hit lengths balls over the fielder’s head. I knew that tonight was the night when I could kick on. It has been wonderful that I have got so much support in this edition. I am forever grateful to all the love that I have never seen before.
Faf du Plessis, said, ‘ Throughout the season we haven’t done as much as have liked. But you still need to back these big players. Virat had been putting in the hard yards in the nets. I play the role with him and get him pumped up. He has got so much emotion and he pulls you through. It is as if you are playing a rugby game. That catch was awesome.
We were trying to get some wickets in the powerplay.
The run-out was pretty cool as well. When I hit the stumps, I was like what do you say about my arm now? I think tonight was important for obvious reasons. You always want to finish strongly. A few inconsistent performances have put us in this situation. I am banking on Rohit to come good.’
Hardik Pandya, said, ‘ We had just a par score. The ball was stopping here and there and we were happy with 168. We wanted to give Lockie the opportunity, but the wicket was holding a bit.Ā So we wanted to go for bowlers who bowled slower ones and took pace off the ball.
We pulled things back in the middle but the way Maxwell played in the end made us feel we were 10 runs short. We are on the right tack and we just need to look after losing back to back wickets.Ā Ā The learning is to make sure we don’t do it in the playoffs. It is always good to score runs.
The way the boys are gelling and the way we are going, it is a learning for the players. I don’t know about Saha’s injury. He was feeling his hamstring and it was a precautionary measure to keep him off the field.