After registering a thumping 8-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians (MI), chasemaster Virat Kohli said that the win against five-time champions at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium is the perfect homecoming for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and they couldn’t have asked for a better game for it. Kohli’s unbeaten 82 and Faf du Plessis’ 73 helped Royal Challengers Bangalore register a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Mumbai Indians at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday to start their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 campaign with victory.
The former India captain played an unbeaten knock of 82 in 48 balls which was decorated with six 4s and five 6s. Kohli also locked in milestones in his side’s opening match in the IPL 2023 as he completed 800 boundaries in the IPL. “I thought it was a phenomenal win, a homecoming after 4 years. Couldn’t have asked for a better game. We bowled well for the first 17 overs but then credit to their batters, especially Tilak who batted really well. It was a very comprehensive win and we wanted to win with balls to spare as it will benefit the NRR. Phenomenal, it was a packed crowd, every seat was full when we walked in here,” Virat Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
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With figures of 3-0-5-1 after three overs, Mohammed Siraj established the tone and left MI at 20 for three after 5.2 overs. “The new ball was tricky, that’s where we shifted the momentum, they can ride on that momentum from the last two overs of their batting but the way we started nullified all that momentum. We kept the pressure on the bowlers,” RCB batter said.
Karn Sharma returned with the figure of 2 wickets conceding 32 runs in his 4 overs spell. “I think he was a phenomenal, phenomenal spell from him, that’s brave bowling after getting the left-hander out [on Karn Sharma]. He was bowling so well for us last year but he couldn’t play. Even in the nets he was not getting hit for sixes, hats off to him for coming and playing after so long, to perform against such a strong MI side at the Chinnaswamy is great for him,” Kohli added.
Kohli said RCB need to build on the momentum from the opening victory for the rest of the tournament. “I wanted to mention this for a while – after MI who have 5 titles and CSK who have 4, if I’m not wrong, we are the third team to have qualified the most times to the playoffs – 8 times. Take one game at a time and try to be a balanced side which we are and we would look to execute our plans as we did tonight,” she said.
