Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey
Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli applauded AB de Villiers for a wonderful innings that stitched the team to pose a target of 195 runs to the opposing team, Kolkata Knight Riders. AB said he was satisfied by his unbeaten 73 off 33, especially when the prejected score was around 160. But it’s a good day when the Captain is amazed by the performance, too.
Kohli, who has often mentioned how he believes in AB’s sense of understanding when it comes to playing for RCB, this time around he went ahead and admitted that everyone barring one “superhuman” struggled to score runs on that pitch in Sharjah as the ball was not coming onto the bat nicely even for him.
“It is a tremendous win against a very strong side. Heading into a busy week for us, it was important to start off well. The bowling unit looks that much more potent with Chris Morris coming back. We were very happy with the total. This pitch was drier. And the day was pleasant so we thought there would be no dew. Barring one superhuman, every batsman struggled on the pitch. The talk was around getting 165, but we got 195 you know exactly why. It was unbelievable. I thought I had a few balls under my belt, and I might start striking. He just came in and struck the third ball, and said he felt good. I said you might see a lot of people do what is done in other games, but only AB can did what he did. It was a fabulous knock. We were looking at 160-165, and it was only thanks to his genius we got to 195. I was happy we could string together a partnership, and mine was the best seat to watch from”, Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
de Villiers also admitted that getting out for a duck is not a great feeling, as was the case in the previous game vs CSK. “I am very happy with my performance. I am very happy that I contributed. I surprised myself today to be honest. We were headed towards 140-150, and I thought I might try for 160-165, but I was surprised we reached 195. The margins are very small when Cummins and Russell are running in, and you need to use every bit of energy in you to keep the momentum going. I felt that energy in the bus already. Keeping is a different skill. I am working really, really hard so that I am up to the mark. I want to be the best that there is”, he said as he took his Man of the Match award.
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
