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Batting juggernaut Virat Kohli was asked about Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) winless streak against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede stadium since IPL 2015. Kohli, following his 42-ball 67 runs blitz on April 7 against MI in their IPL 2025 clash, Virat Kohli expressed his optimism about breaking this long-standing jinx. He drew a parallel to their recent success in overcoming their Chepauk drought against the Chennai Super Kings just the previous week, suggesting a similar breakthrough against Mumbai Indians could be on the horizon.
"Hopefully we break the jinx today,” Kohli said at the mid-innings chat.
Reflecting on Royal Challengers Bengaluru's response after the early dismissal of Phil Salt and discussing his own innings, Virat Kohli shed light on the team's strategy and his approach at the crease. He articulated how he and the rest of the team navigated the situation following the initial setback. RCB ended up posting a daunting total of 221/5.
“That was pretty good. After losing a wicket on the second ball, we countered pretty nicely. Dev played a brilliant impact knock for us, really changed the momentum towards us. I got a few going as well. That partnership was really important for us to set that total on the board. My strength is to get my touch and feel of the ball early on, then I can play the shots I that I want to. I tried to innovate a bit, tried to play different shots off spin as well and then tried to hit different areas of the ground. You need to keep evolving your game and keep up with the demands of the situation in T20 cricket. When I time the ball nicely early on, I have better chances to contribute,” Kohli added.
“When Salty goes early, one of the guys has to make an impact. That partnership was important. What Rajat did is what Rajat does. One of their spinners was out of the game. It was difficult for the chinaman to bowl. That gave us 20-25 runs. The wicket wasn’t as straightforward,” concluded.
Kohli also etched his name further into the record books by becoming the first Indian batsman to reach the remarkable milestone of 13,000 runs in T20 cricket. He achieved this landmark while scoring his second half-century of the current IPL season, thereby also becoming only the fifth batter worldwide to have amassed 13,000 runs in the shortest format of the game.
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