Top Ad
I DIG Radio
www.idigradio.com
Listen live to the best music from around the world!
I DIG Style
www.idigstyle.com
Learn about the latest fashion styles and more...

Kohli: 'A lot of people feel my T20 cricket is declining, I don't feel that at all'

Written by 
Published in Cricket
Sunday, 21 May 2023 13:37
Virat Kohli feels he is playing his "best T20 cricket again", having scored back-to-back hundreds at the end of the league stage of IPL 2023, and helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to 197 for 5 in their must-win game against Gujarat Titans. Kohli's unbeaten 101 off 61 balls steered RCB, especially in the last six overs of the innings, after they were 133 for 5; he put together 64 runs off the last 34 balls with Anuj Rawat to give his side a formidable total.

When asked by Ravi Shastri after the innings how he'd felt at the crease, Kohli said: "Ya, I felt great. A lot of people feel my T20 cricket is declining, but I don't feel like that at all. I feel I am playing my best T20 cricket again. I'm just enjoying myself, this is how I play T20 cricket. I look to hit gaps, hit a lot of boundaries and the big ones in the end if the situation allows me to.

"Strike rates, all those kind of things like I said in the past as well... You have to read the situation and rise up to the occasion when the situation demands, and that's something I take a lot of pride in doing, and I've been doing it for a while now. I feel really good with my game at the moment and how I'm batting out there in the middle."

Kohli overtook his former RCB team-mate Chris Gayle for most centuries in the IPL and became the third batter to score consecutive hundreds in the IPL after Shikhar Dhawan (2020) and Jos Buttler (2022). Later in the night, Shubman Gill too joined that club.
Kohli and Faf du Plessis gave RCB a rapid start with an opening stand of 67 in 7.1 overs before RCB lost three wickets - including those of du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell - to Titans' spinners in the space of 13 balls.

"Spin wasn't easy to get away and I think the strength of a lot of our fast bowlers is also taking pace off," Kohli said of the score they finished on and the conditions. "There's enough in this pitch for our bowlers to make a dent through the [chase], and hitting big shots as you saw in the middle overs wasn't as easy when the field spread out. So you have to hit a lot of gaps and run twos. If we can cut down those boundaries and now allow them to run twos from those gaps, then it'll be a very difficult chase."

But Gill's unbeaten 104 off 52 made sure that was not the case, knocking RCB out of the tournament as Titans chased down their target in 19.1 overs.

"Obviously very disappointed," du Plessis said after the game. "You get to the last game of the campaign, you want to make sure you get through. But we played a very strong team tonight, Shubman Gill played an amazing innings to get a hundred. We were a little bit off in one or two areas and when you are playing a team like this, they will capitalise on it.

"The conditions were really wet in the second innings but I think it was also wet in the first innings with a lot of moisture from the rain [which delayed the start by 55 minutes]. So we changed the ball three times, there wasn't a lot of grip in the second innings. But I thought 195 was a good score, Virat played an unbelievable knock to give us a chance, but we needed that wicket of Shubman to feel like we were really in the game."

One of the biggest positives for RCB this season was the opening partnership of Kohli and du Plessis. The pair added 939 runs in 14 innings, equalling Kohli and AB de Villiers' record of most runs by a pair in a T20 tournament, set in IPL 2016.

"He [Kohli] has played really good cricket throughout the season," du Plessis said, "and as a partnership, I think there was not one game where we didn't score 40 for the opening stand [they failed to add 40 in four out of 14 innings]. So that was really pleasing for both of us that we got the team off to a really good start. But it just shows you Virat has got a lot left in the tank in T20 cricket; he is playing really well still."

Read 187 times

Soccer

State of play at Man City: Guardiola's future, squad uncertainty and exec turnover

State of play at Man City: Guardiola's future, squad uncertainty and exec turnover

EmailPrintOpen Extended Reactions(Editor's Note: This feature has been updated slightly following ne...

Messi sets up Martinez golazo in Argentina win

Messi sets up Martinez golazo in Argentina win

Argentina striker Lautaro Martinez scored in the second half to secure a 1-0 home win against Peru i...

Source: Man City confident Pep will sign new deal

Source: Man City confident Pep will sign new deal

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsManchester City are growing increasingly confident Pep Guardiola wi...

2026 FIFA


2028 LOS ANGELES OLYMPIC

UEFA

2024 PARIS OLYMPIC


Basketball

Celtics' hot shooting ends Cavs' unbeaten streak

Celtics' hot shooting ends Cavs' unbeaten streak

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsBOSTON -- Before the Cleveland Cavaliers put their perfect 15-0 sta...

Doncic returns after missing game with sore knee

Doncic returns after missing game with sore knee

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsDALLAS -- Mavericks guard Luka Doncic returned to the lineup for Tu...

Baseball

Vogt, Murphy win top managers in first year on job

Vogt, Murphy win top managers in first year on job

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsThe Milwaukee Brewers' Pat Murphy and Cleveland Guardians' Stephen...

Soto, Bregman, 10 more opt for MLB free agency

Soto, Bregman, 10 more opt for MLB free agency

EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsJuan Soto, Alex Bregman, Willy Adames, Pete Alonso, Corbin Burnes a...

Sports Leagues

  • FIFA

    Fédération Internationale de Football Association
  • NBA

    National Basketball Association
  • ATP

    Association of Tennis Professionals
  • MLB

    Major League Baseball
  • ITTF

    International Table Tennis Federation
  • NFL

    Nactional Football Leagues
  • FISB

    Federation Internationale de Speedball

About Us

I Dig® is a leading global brand that makes it more enjoyable to surf the internet, conduct transactions and access, share, and create information.  Today I Dig® attracts millions of users every month.r

 

Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: www.idig.com
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Affiliated