‘Hopefully we break the jinx today’: Virat Kohli on ending RCB’s winless run vs MI at Wankhede since 2015 | Ipl News
With Royal Challengers Bengaluru winless against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede since 2015, star batter Virat Kohli, who smashed a 42-ball 67 on Monday said that he’s hoping that they break the jinx, just like they had ended their Chepauk drought against Chennai Super Kings last week.
‘Hopefully we break the jinx today,” Kohli said at the mid-innings chat after RCB posted 221/5 against the Mumbai Indians.
Talking about RCB’s counterattack after Phil Salt was sent back early and his knock, Kohli reveals how he and the team went about it.
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“That was pretty good. After losing a wicket on the second ball, we countered pretty nicely. Dev played a brilliant impact knock for us, really changed the momentum towards us. I got a few going as well. That partnership was really important for us to set that total on the board. My strength is to get my touch and feel of the ball early on, then I can play the shots I that I want to. I tried to innovate a bit, tried to play different shots off spin as well and then tried to hit different areas of the ground. You need to keep evolving your game and keep up with the demands of the situation in T20 cricket. When I time the ball nicely early on, I have better chances to contribute,” Kohli said.
“When Salty goes early, one of the guys has to make an impact. That partnership was important. What Rajat did is what Rajat does. One of their spinners was out of the game. It was difficult for the chinaman to bowl. That gave us 20-25 runs. The wicket wasn’t as straightforward,” he added.
In the match, Kohli became the first Indian to complete 13,000 runs in T20 cricket, reaching the landmark with his second half-century this IPL season to become only the fifth batter overall to have scored 13,000 runs in the shortest format of the game. The right-handed modern day great achieved the feat in a little over 400 matches in his career.
