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Former Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli shared a match-winning opening partnership with Faf du Plessis and led them to an easy eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 opener. While Kohli remained not out for 82 and finished the run chase with a style, he lauded RCB spinner Karn Sharma for his brave spell in the middle overs.
“I think he was phenomenal, phenomenal spell from him, that's brave bowling after getting the left-hander out [on Karn Sharma]. He was bowling so well for us last year but he couldn't play. Even in the nets he was not getting hit for sixes, hats off to him for coming and playing after so long, to perform against such a strong MI side at the Chinnaswamy is great for him,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
Karn got hit for two consecutive sixes by Nehal Wadhera. One of the sixes even went outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. But Karn kept his cool and tossed it up full to the left-handed batter. Wadhera went for the big shot again but found Kohli at long-on. In his next over, he got the wicket of MI's big-hitter Tim David as well. David went for the slog-sweep but misjudged the length. The ball crashed into the stumps and Karn picked up his second wicket of the night. Karn conceded 32 runs in his quota of four overs and picked up crucial wickets before the slog overs.
Kohli also lauded the bowlers despite leaking boundaries in the last three overs as he said, “We bowled well for the first 17 overs but then credit to their batters especially Tilak who batted really well.”
Kohli scored 82 runs from 49 deliveries including six fours and five sixes. He shared a 148-run opening partnership with Du Plessis to put MI bowlers under pressure in the run chase of 172. He thanked the crowd as well on Sunday night.
“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. 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,” the 34-year-old said.
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