Virat Kohli speaks on RCB’s IPL title drought, ‘fun’ knock, best batting partners
Why have Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) not won an IPL title? Here is captain Virat Kohli answering the tough question. Also, he speaks on his 'fun' innings in IPL and best batting partners
FollowBengaluru: From having a ‘gun team’ to reaching three IPL finals, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli spoke about why the team was not able to win the title in 12 years.
On Thursday night (April 2), Kohli was interacting with former England captain Kevin Pietersen on Instagram live and he was asked about RCB’s Indian Premier League (IPL) title drought.
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Recalling their days at RCB, Kohli told Pietersen, “2009 was sort of, we got it going. We hit off well from Day 1. You came in as the big KP (Kevin Pietersen) a star. It was fun. I remember all those days. We had a gun team with (Jacques) Kallis, (Mark) Boucher, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid.”
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The Indian captain added, “We have reached three finals (2009, 2011, 2016) but haven’t won. We reached three semi-finals. Those things are irrelevant till the time you don't win titles. We feel the same, as everyone, to be honest. We keeping talking about it. Even when we had the best teams we haven't been able to win. That is one of our big goals. We actually deserve to win a title. At RCB, we get talked about so much as we had stars. The more you think (about winning the IPL), the more it keeps running away from you. There have been added pressure lately but we need to just enjoy and not take pressure.”
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Pietersen asked Kohli about his “fun” innings of his career and he said it an IPL knock (113 off 50 balls, 12x4, 8x6) against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). In that rain-hit match, played on May 18, 2016 at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB posted a mammoth 211/3 in 15 overs. In reply, KXIP were kept to 120/9 in 15 overs and the hosts won by 82 runs (Duckworth-Lewis Method).
“It was against Kings XI in the IPL (2016). It was I think, a 13… 14 over game or a 15 over game and I got a hundred in 12 overs. That was one of the days where I felt like Jeez, I'm just connecting everything and I just felt like I couldn't get out. And I've never felt like that before. Just to be able to hit and not have that fear of getting out. It was amazing. So that has been my most fun innings,” Kohli said.
The Delhi right-hander said he enjoys batting with MS Dhoni and AB de Villiers, his RCB teammate from South Africa.
“I enjoy batting with those who can run fast with me. So it has to be MS (Dhoni) when we play for India together and AB when we play in the IPL for RCB. We don’t even talk while we are batting,” Kohli said.
