For someone who has carried the weight of expectations season after season, Virat Kohli on Sunday (May 31) acknowledged the current RCB outfit doesn’t expect him to step up every time with multiple match-winner in its ranks.
Kohli stood tall with an unbeaten 75 after RCB bowlers set up their five-wicket win in the final of the Indian Premier League against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.
Having clinched their maiden title win in the 18th year of the IPL, Kohli and RCB sealed a second consecutive victory on Sunday for their second title.
‘Don’t need to be the one to step up every time’
“We’ve had to wait for so long and then just to have a group of guys where you feel like you’re stepping onto the ground, you don’t need to be the one to step up every time,” Kohli told the host broadcaster.
“These guys are behind you (and) around you, who can win games of cricket for you. We have so many Man of the Match awards spread throughout the group as well.
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“You look at world-class bowling of Hoff (Josh Hazlewood), Bhuv (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), Duff (Jacob Duffy), and Krunal Pandya — you can bank on him as good as ever — Rasikh (Salam) Dar was brilliant this season,” Kohli said.
A dream come true
At 37-plus, Kohli still believes in working on his game as he smashed the fastest T20 half-century of his career while fulfilling his long-cherished dream of hitting the winning runs in RCB’s IPL winning chase.
“(It is the) stuff you dream of. (I) thought of this moment many times, wanting to hit the winning run,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Asked about his 25-ball half-century, Kohli showed why he eternally remains a student of the game. “Such is the demand (that) super young players (are) pushing you to up the ante,” he said in jest, but the seriousness of his statement wasn’t lost on anyone.
“I had to change my mindset, not my game so much, take on bowlers and get extra runs,” he added.
‘Doesn’t feel like the same pressure’
Kohli said the current group of RCB players have the balance as well as the strength.
“All the batsmen shipped in as well. I feel so happy to play in a group where we have balance, we have strength, and we are an all-around strong team and that’s why we have the confidence we have on the field right now,” he said.
Kohli said the final this year felt a lot different than last year.
“I said to a few of the boys that it doesn’t feel like the same pressure as last year; we knew what kind of ability we have in the group,” he said.
Intent was clear
The batting super star strode out with an unflinching desire to take his side home.
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That purpose was evident in his dismantling of Kagiso Rabada with a sequence of 4, 4, 6, 4, right after his opening partner Venkatesh Iyer handed the South African a similar punishment in the second over that yielded 18 runs.
Kohli and Venkatesh added 62 runs in just 4.3 overs to rain even on the distant dreams of the GT.
Standing like a rock
Once Rabada was nullified in three straight overs of his, GT did not have enough ammunition in the Power Play, in which RCB amassed 70 for two, to make an impact.
The dismissal of Venkatesh and Devdutt Padikkal followed by the quick departure of skipper Rajat Patidar and Krunal Pandya saw RCB slipping to 91 for four.
But amid this little cavern of chaos, Kohli stood firm like a fort, reaching his fifth 50 of the season with pulled four off pacer Arshad Khan.
Tim David (24, 17b) produced a mini storm that eased the pressure on Kohli, who survived a scare as Shubman Gill’s catch off Arshad was found to have bumped on the grass in the umpire’s review. The champion batter soon so befittingly fetched the winning moment for RCB with a six off Arshad.
Patidar thanks ‘Kohli bhai’
Patidar, who joined MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma as the only captain to have successfully defended an IPL title, shed his usual stoic face, breaking into a wide grin. Others around him rushed to the field to gather around Kohli, the beating heart of his franchise since 2008.
Patidar, who himself scored 500-plus runs in RCB’s second successive IPL title triumph, thanked his team’s senior most member for his support.
“The way I look at my batting, I try to work on where I can improve, against pacers especially. I got a lot of ideas and help from Kohli bhai. Whenever I see him, he’s always there for the team and all players. He goes to the young players even if they’re nervous approaching him,” Patidar later said about team-man Kohli.
A difficult pitch
If RCB’s 161 for five in 18 overs was full of intent and confidence, GT’s innings of 155 for eight was filled with trepidation.
Shot-making was not exactly an easy proposition on the pitch No. 6 at the Narendra Modi stadium, a mix of red and black soil, and it aptly reflected in the GT batting.
Washington Sundar resisted the trend with an unbeaten 50 (37b, 5×4), but the damage around him was far too big to mitigate.
The RCB bowlers found the correct lengths and GT needed skipper Gill and his opening partner B Sai Sudharsan to fire upfront to pile a competitive total, but they failed in that endeavour.
GT’s underwhelming innings
A steady beginning was not alien to GT openers but Gill’s swat off Josh Hazlewood (2/37) took the leading edge of his bat to create a simple catch for his opposite number Patidar.
Sudharsan, who was once saved by DRS from being caught behind off Jacob Duffy, did not last long either.
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The left-hander’s woeful pull off a well-directed high and wide bouncer by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/29) did not travel beyond a running-in stumper Jitesh Sharma.
Once their two batters, who have amassed over 700 runs each this season, the GT batting lost its rudders, ending an underwhelming Power Play phase at 45 for two.
Rasikh impresses
Jos Buttler (19) and Washington, who brought up his 50 in 37 balls, tried to keep GT’s innings together but they struggled to shake off their defensive mien.
The young pacer Rasikh Salam Dar (3/27), who continued his impressive run behind leaders Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood, picked up the wickets of an out-of-sync Nishant Sindhu (20 off 18 balls) and Rahul Tewatia as the home side lost the cream of its batting line-up even before reaching 100.
That GT had to wait till the 13th over for the first six off their innings — a mighty drag over mid-wicket off Krunal Pandya by Arshad — underlined GT’s turmoil on the night that belonged entirely to RCB and Kohli.
(With agency inputs)
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