Follow UsVirat Kohli scored a match-winning 54-ball 73 against Gujarat Titans (GT) to give Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) a chance of making it to the playoffs. Before this kock, Kohli had just 236 runs from 13 innings at an average of 19.
Kohli rode his luck in his innings, with inside edges flying to the boundary and also a dropped catch from Rashid Khan at deep square-leg too played its part. RCB's director of cricket Mike Hesson believes, Kohli has earned a bit of luck throughout this season.
“It started in Pune, and then from that point on, he got run-out a couple of times, obviously the one that went off the hip – he pretty much found each and every way to get out. So he’s right, there certainly wasn’t a pattern to those dismissals," Hesson said at the post-match press conference.
"The fact that he was working so hard in the nets and trying to find that rhythm away from the playing games, away from the contest, allowed him to keep that confidence up.
"But no doubt, when you go through a bit of a patch like that – he’s only human, you know – then you do start to just having the off doubt and wonder when’s your luck is going to turn.
"So look, little bit luck tonight, but he’s certainly earned it throughout this IPL."
Chasing 169, Kohli and Faf du Plessis (44) got RCB off to the perfect start putting on 115 for the first wicket. Glenn Maxwell then played a blinder, hitting an unbeaten 18-ball 40, to take his team home with eight balls to spare.
Hesson pointed out how easier chasing becomes for the team when the top-order fires. “Just shows like, [in] any team, if you get the top order is firing and [have] a player like Virat, then it makes the rest of the chase a lot easier. And obviously, chasing scores here hasn’t been our forte so far in this IPL," Hesson said.
We’ve been sort of able to defend scores, but haven’t been able to chase. So I think we know Virat is the chase master, and obviously, he set the tone again today.
For RCB to go through to the playoffs, Mumbai Indians (MI) will have to beat Delhi Capitals (DC) on Saturday (May 21) at the Wankhede Stadium. Hesson says his team will turn into MI fans for a day.
“We will train. Tonight, we’ll have a bit of a reflection on today and the performance under pressure that we put out – we’ll celebrate that. And then tomorrow, it'll be a quiet day – obviously guys will do their recovery and their gym and so forth," the former New Zealand coach said.
"And then, we’ll sit down and watch the game together as a group in our team room and obviously turn into Mumbai Indians fans. But yeah we did what we could today, and now obviously, we’ll leave it up to other teams to have to do the finishing touches."
RCB have finished the group stages with 16 points from 14 matches in IPL 2022.