"It was a great innings": Virat Kohli in awe of Rajat Patidar's heroics in MI vs RCB clash

The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batting superstar Virat Kohli showered rich praise on the skipper Rajat Patidar following his heroics with the bat in the 20th match of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL) 2025 against the Mumbai Indians on Monday, April 7.

Virat Kohli was also impressed with the batting performance of Devdutt Padikkal and Jitesh Sharma and lavished praise on the RCB batters.

Also Read: Watch: Ryan Rickelton takes absolute screamer to remove Rajat Patidar in MI vs RCB clash

Royal Challengers Bengaluru post 221/5 against Mumbai Indians

RCB lost the toss and they were invited to bat first by MI. The visiting team lost the wicket of the explosive opener Phil Salt in the first over itself, but that didn't stop them from posting a big score on the board.

Kohli joined forces with Devdutt Padikkal and took the attack on the Mumbai Indians bowling unit. Both the batters played an attacking brand of cricket and stitched up a 91-run partnership.

After Padikkal got out for 22-ball 37, Rajat Patidar joined Kohli in the middle and together they added 48 runs in just 31 balls. RCB then lost two back-to-back wickets as Kohli (67 off 42) and Liam Livingstone (0 off 2) got out.

However, Patidar (64 off 32) and Jitesh Sharma (40* off 19) ensured that RCB had momentum on their side as they built a sensational 69-run partnership in 27 balls to take RCB to a colossal total of 221/5.

You need to keep evolving your game - Virat Kohli

Speaking during the mid-innings break, Kohli expressed his satisfaction over the performance of his team with the bat and gave a special shoutout to Devdutt Padikkal. He said:

"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."

While talking about his knock, the batting legend said that evolving the game to keep up with the demands of T20 cricket is important. He stated:

"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."

What Rajat did is what Rajat does most often - Virat Kohli

Kohli further praised Devdutt Padikkal for playing an impact knock and was hopeful of him playing a big innings very soon. He said:

"(On Padikkal) When Salty goes early, one of the guys needs to have an impact straightaway and Dev kind of did that for us. He's done that for 2-3 games now, a big score is around the corner for him. He deserves it, he's hitting the ball so well."

In the end, Kohli labeled the knocks played by Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma as 'great innings' and was hopeful of RCB breaking the jinx to win at the Wankhede Stadium after a long time. He elaborated:

"That partnership was important for us to go deeper into the innings, get guys like Jitesh Livi and Tim David towards the back-end of the innings. What Rajat did is what Rajat does most often. It was a great innings by those two as well - Rajat and Jitesh really got us those extra 20-25 runs. 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. Hopefully we break the jinx today."