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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) earned an emphatic victory over Punjab Kings in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Thursday (April 20).
Virat Kohli led the RCB's pack owing to Faf Du Plessis' rib injury who only came to bat during the match. Kohli, who was captaining RCB after nearly two years since he stepped down, once again roared with the bat and notched his third fifty in the ongoing IPL 2023. Kohli scored 59 off 47 riding on five boundaries and a six to help his side post a competitive total of 174/4. Du Plessis too dazzled with the bat and whacked 84 off 56 balls which was decorated with five fours and as many sixes. In reply, PBKS were bowled out for 150 and lost the match by 24 runs, thanks to Mohammed Siraj's spectacular four-fer.
Meanwhile, in the post match conference Kohli made a sensational comment after RCB's win and said that this win does not make us an invincible team or the league position before today did not make us a bad team.
“This win does not make us an invincible team or the league position before today did not make us a bad team. The table cannot define your mood, when you have just played five or six games. Maintain our processes and stay in the moment. In the first half, the conditions changed drastically. Faf batted outstandingly well. We thought of extending our partnership for as long as possible so that it could give us an extra 20 runs. After overs 7-8, as soon as the ball was getting bashed into the square, the ball really started getting scuffed up. We changed our strategy then to bat deeper. Had we stayed in, we could have given a crack at 190-200. We felt 175 was a good score on this pitch. I told them that was more than enough. All we had to do was be confident and hold the ball in hand looking to get wickets. The way you win games in T20 cricket is by taking wickets. At the half-way stage, the idea was to take the game to the opposition in the first six overs. We broke the game open right there and our fielding was brilliant as well,” Kohli said.
Notably, before the second leg of IPL 2021 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kohli announced that he would be stepping down as the skipper of the franchise after leading RCB for nine seasons. Back in 2013, Kohli took over as the Challengers’ skipper from Daniel Vettori. However, RCB couldn't win a single IPL title in his stint as captain.
Talking about the match, Kohli and Du Plessis stitched together an opening partnership of 137 runs which is the highest for any wicket at Mohali in IPL. Riding on his impressive knock Kohli has so far amassed amassed 264 runs in a total of six matches and is only behind Faf Du Plessis, who is leading the runs chart with 320 runs in as six games and is also the holder of IPL 2023's Orange Cap.
Kohli also scripted history on his captaincy return for RCB. He achieved a unique feat of completing a century of 30-plus scores in the history of IPL.
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