IPL 2017: Virat Kohli is “happy” to get runs ahead of Champions Trophy

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) finally managed a win after close to a month to end their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 campaign with 7 points. Their final win came in their last game, against Delhi Daredevils (DD) at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi — which also happens to be Virat Kohli’s home ground. Kohli continued with his good show at the venue, scoring 58 from 45 deliveries and contributing in his side’s 10-run win. Full Cricket Scorecard: Delhi Daredevils (DD) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), IPL 2017, Match 56 at Delhi

Despite the disappointing campaign, Kohli remained upbeat and joked about the scenario at the post match interview before adding that he was happy to get some runs ahead of ICC Champions Trophy 2017. Kohli admitted that he instinctively walked towards Matthew Hayden, who usually conducts the interviews with losing captain before the burly Australian shooed him away.

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“When I met Matthew [Hayden] after the game, I said I instinctively thought I had to come to you for the interview. He said go far away from me. I could not believe we had won the game. It is good to finish off well. The guys took it as an opportunity. Playing cricket in front of a big crowd is always an opportunity,” said the jovial RCB skipper in his interview with Sanjay Manjrekar.

When quizzed about what went wrong for RCB this season, Kohli was candid yet positive and called it a “blessing in disguise”.

“It has been a season to forget and reflect on. We have to start fresh as a franchise. Maybe [this was] a blessing in disguise. Depends on how many players we can retain. But we do have guys who we have identified. Some guys who have showed right kind of attitude and the mindset to go out there and perform under pressure situations. We are really happy to finish off with a win,” said Kohli, who had a below par IPL himself, scoring 308 runs at 30.80.

RCB are a side known to party and enjoy, which makes them an immensely popular side. No wonder, despite this being their away game, the chants of “RCB RCB” echoed all around Kotla. Kohli admitted that the boys will celebrate the win by partying.

“The guys disperse tomorrow, so some celebrations tonight. Maybe we will be able to do things we wanted to do this season,” added Kohli.

Kohli reserved special praises for young Avesh Khan and Harshal Patel. While Avesh provided the first breakthrough with Sanju Samson’s wicket off the second ball, Patel took a three-for and his wickets included Shreyas Iyer, Marlon Samuels and the dangerous Rishabh Pant. Both Avesh and Patel played their first game this season.

“Both guys playing their first games bowled their hearts out. Especially Avesh, the way he rushed batsmen on this track was really good. Not many world-class bowlers could do that. And Harshal could not play many games this season but when he came, got three wickets. We know his skills-set; he could execute his plans today and took three wickets. Really delighted that these two could do well,” praised Kohli.

He finally spoke about his own batting. After dismal outings in the Test series against Australia, Kohli could not replicate the magic of 2016 in this year’s IPL. However, the Indian captain is happy with the fact that he is scoring runs ahead of the Champions Trophy.

“I was trying to place the ball between the fielders. The ball held up a bit there as it was a dry pitch. Really happy to have got some runs ahead of the Champions Trophy. Pleased with the way I hit the ball today,” the 28-year-old added.

The majestic six

Kohli has a knack of pulling off spectacular feats and a six that he slammed today over deep extra cover was one of the finest strokes played in the tournament. The bowler was Corey Anderson. When asked about the six, Kohli explained, “Just a bit of extension of what you do in other formats. I was looking to push this between the two fielders to try and pick up two but I think Corey bowled a cross-seam ball,” he concluded.