After suffering six consecutive losses, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) finally managed to register their maiden win of this edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when they beat Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by eight wickets in Mohali. And skipper Virat Kohli made his pleasure known.
While the losing captain is interviewed right after the game, the winning captain is interviewed during the presentation ceremony and Kohli said it felt nice to return to the ground for the interview rather than being interviewed right after the game on Saturday.
“Most pleasing thing is coming for an interview at this time, and not immediately out of the field. Great feeling to get across the line. Have been unlucky in couple of games. Won’t say we’ve been unlucky in every game, but a couple of games we should’ve closed out before this. After so many setbacks, the guys had desire. That’s one word we spoke about,” he said.
Commenting on how the game panned out, Kohli said: “We thought 190 will be par and to restrict them to 170 was a great effort. To pick up four wickets in eight overs in the middle for 60 runs was an outstanding effort. We knew Chris was going to bat deep.
“So many opportunities to get dot balls. We knew if we bowled decently to him, we might restrict them.”
Former KXIP star Marcus Stoinis put in a quality effort for RCB with a 16-ball 28 and said that maybe his love for playing at the I.S. Bindra Stadium in Mohali could be a reason why he managed to handle the pressure situation well at the end of the innings.
“Maybe, really enjoyed playing here (grins). I said to him (AB), that he is probably the best player of our generation and he showed it today. (On RCB finally getting a win) Yes, I was telling Gary (Kirsten) that I had brought two points for the side after my recent trip and we got it today (chuckles).
“The main difference tonight was that our bowlers came back well, which is key in this format. We kept coming back with the ball and then got partnerships with the bat. (On every game being a knockout) It is, but for now, we can’t get too ahead of ourselves,” he added.