IPL 2018: Punjab Thought We'd be Intimidated by their Batting - Virat Kohli

Short boundaries in Indore spiced up the contest between two hard-hitting sides, Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore. But the Kings XI Punjab side fell apart like a pack of cards, as Virat Kohli and his men had their time under the lights.

While the last game at this venue threw out 459 runs in total, tonight’s game was a tad different.

The openers started off similarly, but KL Rahul was caught in the deep to provide RCB with its first break-through. Karun Nair followed him no time, and Chris Gayle too lost his wicket soon.

A 23-ball 26 from Aaron Finch helped his side avoid an embarrassing under-50 score, but a total of 88 looked too poor.

Umesh, Kohli take RCB forward

Pacer Umesh Yadav bagged three wickets while all-rounder Moeen Ali scalped one and was involved in two of the three run-outs. The hosts had themselves to blame, as they took the field to defend the below-par total.

Sensing an opportunity to improve their net run-rate, Kohli promoted himself up the order and opened the innings with Parthiv Patel.

Virat Kohli sniffs the playoff berth

Kohli sounded optimistic after the win. He said it had been a crazy week as they were languishing while now they have a serious chance of qualifying.

“The last week has been crazy. We thought we were down and out. Suddenly the table opened up. Now we just need two wins from two. I think Kings XI thought we’d be a little intimidated by their batting line-up but the way they ran in they knew they couldn’t make mistakes. We knew that they would try and go for big runs because they didn’t have their mystery spinner. We just kept them in doubt.” he said

He also said the toss was very crucial. Kohli was aware of the fact that Mujeeb Ur Rahman is not playing, and played a bit of a mind game with the opposition at the toss.

“Very important, having seen results at this ground and knowing they didn’t have their spinner. We had chased 180 in the last game, and we were in a good space coming into this. We want too take responsibility as batsmen – you won’t always win the toss. We fancy chasing big totals as well. We love taking responsibility.” the winning skipper added.

The win will act as a big boost for the Bangalore-based franchise, as they now have a realistic chance of making it to the playoffs.