Dubai: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli said that a pull stroke that he played of Mumbai Indians’ Jasprit Bumrah in the Super Over that the two sides had played on September 28 helped him free himself and find form. Kohli scored an unbeaten 90 on Saturday against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), following up on scores of 43 and 72 not out in his previous two matches.
He had managed 14, 1 and 3 in the matches before that. “Before that, I was trying to do too much, taking focus away from what I need to do which is watch the ball and just bat. If you think too much about responsibility, you get burdened and you don’t play as a player. Your skills are required for your team’s success,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony in which he was also declared player of the match.
“That Super Over where I had to strike, else we would have lost, freed me up. Then I started enjoying training. The next few sessions were very good from a batting point of view. I was hitting the ball well in the last game as well and wanted to do exactly that today. Training all these days also helped.”
Kohli got to his half century in 39 balls after which he and he smashed the next 37 runs in just 13 balls. “It’s about understanding the conditions and respecting the game instead of trying to hit every ball into the second tier of the stadium. That is what experience is and having played so much cricket, especially T20 cricket, I understand that if you are set at the death, you can really capitalise,” said Kohli.
