Virat Kohli elated after RCB beat MI: It was important to stamp our presence
Virat Kohli rated the Royal Challengers Bangalore 10 points after their 54th win over the Mumbai Indians in match 39 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 on Sunday.
Defending 166 for victory, RCB bowled out MI for 111 in 18.1 overs thanks to a hat-trick from Harshal Patel and an all-round performance from Glenn Maxwell in Dubai.
Maxwell and Kohli both hit fifties as RCB posted 165 for 6 on the board.
“Very happy, especially the way we won. It was a difficult start when we lost Devdutt. He came in the second over to try and get me out… KS came out and played some amazing shots. He took the pressure off me. Maxi’s innings was unbelievable,” Kohli said after the match.
The 32-year-old RCB skipper scored 51 and also became the first Indian to reach 10,000 T20 runs as RCB posted 165 for 6 after being asked to bat first by Rohit Sharma. Glenn Maxwell top-scored with 56 and picked a couple of wickets to round off a brilliant show with bat and ball.
“Tonight I don’t think there’s no complaints whatsoever, I will give it a 10 especially on the field. Maybe in batting I will give it 8, we should’ve got 20-25 more – really put the opposition under pressure and not allow them to come back after a breakthrough.”
Kohli also praised hat-trick hero Harshal Patel, who got rid of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard and Rahul Chahar in successive deliveries to become the third RCB bowler achieve the feat after Praveen Kumar (vs Rajasthan Royals in 2010) and Samuel Badree (vs Mumbai Indians in 2017).
“We left out 15 [runs] out there… Those are the things where we feel we can get 20-25 extra runs. I went with my gut feel with DC [Christian]… With his experience and change-ups, he bowled an amazing over… What Harshal did was unbelievable,” Kohli said.
