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Tag: Kohli

  • IPL 2021: RCB hasn’t played its best cricket yet, but we are getting close, says batter AB de Villiers

    By ANI

    DUBAI: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter AB de Villiers has said that the Virat Kohli-led side has not played their best cricket yet, but they are getting close which augurs well for them heading into the playoffs.

    “Fantastic win, we’re very happy with that, came up short in the last game, but we came up with a last-ball win tonight, so happy. We showed a lot of character as a bowling group, we haven’t always had the best of starts in the first six, which we’re better tonight. We didn’t let Dhawan and Shaw get off to a great start and then pulled things back very well in the back-end. It’s been amazing, shows once again that there is a lot of character in this bowling unit, we’ll need a lot more, but very happy with the way the boys have gone,” de Villiers told host broadcaster Star Sports after the game against Delhi Capitals ended.

    “I’m feeling good, haven’t had a lot of opportunities so far, I’m hitting the ball well, had a bit of a slow start today – thought they bowled well to me on a deck that wasn’t easy to bat on, but I’m striking them well, working hard at the nets and ready to come for the next matches. I think we need to do what we are doing and maybe up it a notch, have been speaking about peaking at the right time. We haven’t played our absolute best, but we’re getting close. If we can get that twitch in the finals, hopefully, there are good things to come,” he added.

    Srikar Bharat and Glenn Maxwell played unbeaten knocks of 78 and 51 respectively as RCB defeated Delhi Capitals by seven wickets at the Dubai International Stadium. On the last ball, RCB needed five for a win, and Bharat ended up hitting the ball for a six off the bowling of Avesh Khan.

    Earlier, Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan played knocks of 48 and 43 as Delhi Capitals posted a total of 164/5 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Apart from Dhawan and Shaw, Shimron Hetmyer also got among the runs as he played a knock of 29. For RCB, Mohammed Siraj returned with two wickets.

    Delhi Capitals finished at the top spot in the points table and now the side will square off against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Qualifier 1 on Sunday. On the other hand, RCB finished at the third spot and Virat Kohli’s team will face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Eliminator on Monday. 

  • Kohli wins toss, elects to bowl against laggards SRH

    By PTI

    ABU DHABI: Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bowl against SunRisers Hyderabad in their IPL match here on Wednesday.

    RCB, who are eyeing the second place in the points table, are going unchanged.

    Kohli feels the wicket will play better in the latter half of the match.

    Already eliminated from the Play-offs race, the struggling SRH are also playing the same playing XI that competed in their last match.

    Teams: Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), Devdutt Paddikal, Srikar Bharat, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Dan Christian, Shahbaz Ahmed, George Garton, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj.

    Sunrisers Hyderabad: Kane Williamson (C), Jason Roy, Wriddhiman Saha, Priyam Garg, Abhishek Sharma, Abdul Samad, Jason Holder, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Siddarth Kaul and Umran Malik.

  • SRH set RCB 142-run target

    By PTI

    ABU DHABI: Royal Challengers Bangalore restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to a modest 141 for seven in their Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday.

    Opener Jason Roy (44) and skipper Kane Williamson (31) resisted the RCB attack with fighting knocks while Jason Holder (16) played a useful cameo down the batting order.

    Harshal Patel (3/33) and Dan Christian (2/14) shared five wickets between them for SRH.

    Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad: 141 for 7 in 20 overs (Jason Roy 44, Kane Williamson 31; Harshal Patel 3/33, Dan Christian 2/14).

  • IPL 2021: SRH seal a narrow four-run win over RCB

    By IANS

    ABU DHABI: Sunrisers Hyderabad sealed a narrow four-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Match 52 of the IPL 2021 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Wednesday. Hyderabad defended 142 against a Bangalore batting line-up which threatened briefly to chase down the target.

    Bangalore were given an early jolt with Bhuvneshwar Kumar trapping Virat Kohli in front with an incoming delivery in the first over. Daniel Christian’s promotion to three backfired as he chipped a catch to mid-off off Siddarth Kaul. KS Bharat slammed two boundaries before falling to gloving behind off Umran Malik in the seventh over.

    Rashid Khan’s first ball to Glenn Maxwell was hoicked over deep mid-wicket in the eighth over. When Khan returned for his next over, Maxwell took on him again, slog-sweeping over long-on for a six followed by a wristy sweep through deep mid-wicket. In between, Malik was beating Maxwell for pace.

    Maxwell’s partnership of 54 with Devdutt Padikkal ended in the 15th over as a direct hit from a sliding Kane Williamson at cover caught the right-hander short of his crease while taking a quick single. Padikkal’s painstaking struggle to break free ended when he holed out to deep mid-wicket off Khan in the 17th over.

    Shahbaz Ahmed took eleven off Malik in the 18th over, including two boundaries, to bring the equation to 18 runs in the last two overs. Ahmed was dropped by Kumar at long-on in the start of the 19th over but pulled straight to mid-wicket on the fourth ball off Jason Holder.

    With 13 needed off the final over, AB de Villiers slammed a six straight down the ground off Kumar. But Kumar conceded just one run off the final ball to give Hyderabad a slim win.

    Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 141/7 in 20 overs (Jason Roy 44, Kane Williamson 31, Harshal Patel 3/33, Daniel Christian 2/14) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 137/6 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 41, Glenn Maxwell 40, Umran Malik 1/21, Siddarth Kaul 1/24) by four runs.

  • Kohli hit a double century of matches for RCB

     As soon as the 31st match of the 13th season of the Indian Premier League i.e. IPL started on the ground of Sharjah, the Royal Challengers Bangalore i.e. RCB captain Virat Kohli made a record in his name. The match was against Kings XI Punjab, in which Virat Kohli scored a double century for RCB in terms of matches. On this occasion, Virat Kohli also gave a statement and said that it is not less than any honor for him.

    In fact, Virat Kohli had landed in his 185th match against Punjab for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the history of IPL. With this, he became the first player to play in the 200th match for RCB. Now you must be thinking that when he played 185 matches in IPL for RCB, then how did 200 matches happen? If you are thinking like this then you are not wrong, but he played the 200th match for RCB on Thursday, 15 October.

    Yes, Virat Kohli has played 15 matches for RCB in Champions League T20. In this way, he has become the first player to land 200 matches for the Bangalore team. So far no player has played so many matches for RCB. At the same time, during the toss on this special occasion, he was asked how you are feeling after achieving this special achievement, then he said that it means a lot to me.

    RCB captain Virat Kohli said, RCB means a lot to me, not many people can understand this emotion of mine. 200 matches is a wonderful thing for the team. I never thought in 2008 that this would happen. It is an honor for me. They retained me and I remained with them. Let me tell you, Virat Kohli is the only player who is still playing for the same team in the IPL.

  • Kohli Terms Bangalore’s Win Over Chennai As One Of Their ‘complete Performances’

    Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli labelled his team’s performance against southern rivals Chennai as one of their most complete performances. Bangalore beat Chennai by 37 runs in the Dream11 IPL 2020 league match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

    Kohli’s unbeaten 90 powered the three-time finalists to a competitive total of 169/4 in their 20 overs. In reply, the three-time champions’ run chase was not up to the mark as they were playing a catch-up game after having lost early wickets as the asking rate kept on getting steeper. Ambati Rayudu top-scored with 42 as the former champions were restricted to 132/8. Kohli was also adjudged the Man of the Match for his stellar knock.

    He added, “It’s about understanding the conditions and respecting the game. Instead of trying to hit every ball into the second tier of the stadium. Having played so much cricket, especially T20 cricket, I have learned that if you are set at the death, you can capitalize. Before that, I was trying to do too much. If you think too much about responsibility, you get burdened. That Super Over where I had to strike, else we would have lost, freed me up. Training all these days also helped. Yes, he’s (Chris Morris, who played his first match of the season) been really good, gun on the field and three wickets on debut. With him and Gurkeerat, the batting also gets deep. When you get momentum in this format, it can be the difference between finishing at the top or at the bottom.”

    His opposite number Mahendra Singh Dhoni revealed where his team is struggling this season.

  • In-form Virat Kohli Gears For Another Run Feast Against Delhi

    Virat Kohli has always been a force to reckon with no matter what format he plays. Kohli has shown unprecedented consistency in the T20 format, and IPL is no different. The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper has been in fine nick this season too, having scored two half-centuries already.

    Come Saturday, RCB will face Delhi Daredevils at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and Kohli will be looking to get some more runs under his belt, and most importantly get a win for his team.

     Stats show that the 29-year-old has been ruthless against Delhi in the past. He is one of the leading run-getters against DD in the IPL with 661 runs. He is 27 runs behind the current leading run-getter Rohit Sharma, who has scored 688 runs. This will be another opportunity for him to improve his record against the opposition.

    kohli stat

    Among the active IPL teams, he has the best average against DD. Kohli averages 73.44 in 16 innings against them. Not only that, Kohli has 7 half-centuries against DD, the most by any batsman. The next in the list is Ajinkya Rahane with 6 fifties.

    Here are some other stats that’s show Kohli’s domination against Delhi:

    —Kohli has scored 83 boundaries against DD (65 fours and 18 sixes), most against any active IPL opposition.

    —Kohli has a strike rate of 138.28 against DD, which is his 2nd best strike rate in the IPL against active teams.

    As far as the match is concerned, currently languishing at the bottom of the points table, both Delhi and Bangalore will be aiming to return to their winning ways. Both the teams have two points each currently.

  • Virat Kohli at the Launch of the Audi RS5

    Virat Kohli at the Launch of the Audi RS5 Interview. Recently Indian cricketer Virat Kohli launched the second generation Audi RS 5 Coupe in Bengaluru and we caught up with Virat Kohli for a quick conversation that was not on cricket but automobiles. Here is Virat Kohli talking about his love for automobiles, his driving style and more.

  • Virat Kohli Had the Hunger to be Great: RCB Batting Coach Gary Kirsten

    Having made his international debut in 2008, Virat Kohli has moved up the charts in leaps and bounds to become one of the world’s leading batsmen. For Gary Kirsten, India’s coach when Kohli started out with the national team, it was always a question of when and not if when it came to Kohli achieving great things.

    Kirsten, who has been roped in as batting coach by Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, said: “It is great to be working with Virat again because he started when I was the coach. We had a lot of conversations early in his career about how he needs to set up his game. We knew he was going to be a great player, it was just a question of when he was going to get there. How he needed to play to be able to achieve the consistency in his game.”

     Kohli, 29, had spoken glowingly about Kirsten at the time of announcing his appointment, and Kirsten is happy to be able to take their relationship forward.

    “A lot of those conversations have in many ways given him some of the thinking around how he needs to build his game. That has been fun. To come back and start working with him again, to see how he is going, we are just kind of building that relationship again. I am really enjoying it,” said Kirsten.

    Kohli, the No.1-ranked ODI batsman in the ICC Player Rankings – and No.2 in Tests – currently sits at the top of the run-scoring chart in the IPL this season.

    “Any guy with half a cricket eye would have known that he was going to be a great player. His hunger for runs, his ball-striking ability – we are talking 2008; he hit the ball to all parts of the ground, he had natural power,” pointed out Kirsten.

    “He had all the makings of a great player in terms of ball-striking ability and talent. And then, the determination to go with it. The hunger to be great. It was all there. That’s one of the easier recruitments you could make, that was not going to be difficult to work out. I wouldn’t be only one who would have seen that, I think everyone would have seen that.”

    Since becoming the full-time India captain across formats, Kohli has stacked up remarkable numbers. Most recently, in 2017, he scored 1464 ODI runs at 76.84 and 1059 Test runs at 75.64.

    With India embarking on tough away tours of England and Australia later this year, Kohli’s form is going to be crucial.

    “We know what he is now and what he looks like. It has been an amazing natural progression. Importantly for him now, as he moves into this next phase – he has gone from the prodigious talent to the high performer. The challenge now is to maintain that for a long period of time, to grow his leadership base, and he is doing that because I think it is an ongoing process,” Kirsten said.

    “He seems to be in a space where he is really willing to take on the learning that needs to be taken, like we all need to in whatever phase we are in our lives. Take the learning on board to get even better.”

  • Record-breaking Virat Kohli Becomes Highest Run-scorer

    Indian Virat Kohli did not begin the current season of the IPL in the way he would have liked, but over the last couple of games, first against Rajasthan Royals and then against the Mumbai Indians he has come into his own.

    While the Royal Challengers Bangalore have had no results to write home about, Kohli has been the silver lining for the otherwise floundering side. The captain who scored an unbeaten 92 right at the top of the order was the only major contributor as they tried to chase down the target of 214.

     RCB may have lost once again after conceding more than 200 runs for the second consecutive game, but Kohli’s knock means he is now the highest scorer in the ongoing season. Kohli has amassed a total of 201 runs in four innings at an average of 67 and a strike rate of 143.

    Against Mumbai, Kohli scored more than 55 percent of the runs for his team and face more than half the balls bowled by the opposition too on his way to recording the second highest individual score (92*) of the season so far. Co-incidentally, the highest individual score so far this season was also scored in Tuesday’s match by Rohit Sharma (94).

    Kohli 2nd highest score

    Kohli, who is well known for his batting prowess and how he can dismantle opposition bowling attacks with utmost ease is the only person to have breached the 200 run mark this season. He has managed it in four games.

    KOhli highest run getter

    The Indian captain who has many batting record to his name, is now also the highest run scorer across all seasons of the IPL. Kohli’s knock against Mumbai took him past his India teammate and Chennai Super Kings man Suresh Raina. Behind the duo is another Indian batsman – Rohit Sharma.