Expressing his delight over starting IPL 2020 with a win, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has credited spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for the victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday. Riding on Chahal’s impressive display, RCB beat SRH by ten runs to start their campaign on a winning note.
When Chahal came to bowl the 16th over, it looked like the game had slipped out of RCB’s clutches. Chasing 164, SRH were comfortably placed on 121 for 2 with a well set Jonny Bairstow in the middle. However, Chahal castled Bairstow and Vijay Shankar on consecutive deliveries in his final over to turn the game on its head.
Speaking after the game, Virat Kohli was all praise for Chahal and credited him for the win. He also praised the likes of Devdutt Padikkal, AB de Villiers and Shivam Dube for their performances.
“It’s amazing and last year we were on the other side of the results. We kept our composure tonight. Yuzi came in and changed the game for us. Tonight he showed that if you have skill, you can get purchase on any wicket. The way he came in and bowled attacking lines, he was the one in my opinion who changed the game,” said Virat Kohli.
“We started really well and Devdutt was really good and Finch was good too. AB batting in the last three overs helped us push it past 160 and as I said, the fact that we didn’t let negativity slip into the bowling group was a great sign and Dube bowling those three overs was really good to see,” he added.
Earlier in the match, RCB scored 163 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs with debutant Devdutt Padikkal and veteran AB de Villiers scoring fifties. Padikkal and Aaron Finch gave RCB a solid start by adding 90 runs in 11 overs before departing in quick succession. Captain Virat Kohli did not last long either as RCB found themselves in trouble.
However, de Villiers held firm from one end and slammed 51 off just 30 deliveries to ensure RCB end up with a challenging total. For SRH, T Natarajan, Vijay Shankar and Abhishek Sharma picked one wicket apiece.