Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis on Sunday helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) script only the third victory against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Chasing a 172-run target, the RCB opening duo dominated right from the beginning, keeping the MI bowlers at bay throughout.
Du Plessis and Kohli stitched a massive 148-run partnership for the first wicket, the highest so far this season. In due course, they also notched up their respective half-centuries. While the RCB captain got his fifty in 32 balls, Kohli reached his in 38 deliveries.
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RCB looked destined for a 10-wicket win but a couple of strikes extended RCB’s wait, in terms of balls to spare. Kohli scored the winning runs, giving a perfect start to their campaign in IPL 2023.
Speaking about the game plan post-victory, Kohli said it was pre-decided to go all guns blazing right from the first over so as to negate any kind of pressure in the death overs.
“It was a very comprehensive win and we wanted to win with balls to spare as it will benefit the NRR. The new ball was tricky, that’s where we shifted the momentum, they can ride on that momentum from the last two overs of their batting but the way we started nullified all that momentum. We kept the pressure on the bowlers," Kohli told the broadcasters after the eight-wicket win.
The RCB received humungous crowd support at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium where they were playing after a hiatus of three years.
“Phenomenal it was a packed crowd, every seat was full when we walked in here. Very important we started off well, their support propelled us and that makes a massive difference," Kohli said.
Before concluding, Kohli said the team executed their plans very well and that’s how they are going to proceed in the tournament.
“I wanted to mention this for a while – after MI who have five titles and CSK who have four, if I’m not wrong, we are the third team to have qualified the most times to the playoffs – eight times. Take one game at a time and try to be a balanced side which we are and we would look to execute our plans as we did tonight," Kohli concluded.
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