We Are Not Getting Ahead Of Ourselves And Not Getting Over-Excited: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli and co. survived a reasonably good onslaught from Andre Russell to register their third successive win in IPL 2021. Batting prowess from Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers lifted the Royal Challengers Bangalore to an imposing 204 in the first innings against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Virat Kohli claimed that the execution across departments was remarkable that helped them pull off a 38-run victory.

Glenn Maxwell steered the Royal Challengers by a counterattacking 28-ball 50 after losing Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar in the second over. Kolkata Knight Riders lost the plot as Maxwell’s onslaught left captain Eoin Morgan clueless. The Victorian raised his fifty in the ninth over and shared crucial partnerships with AB de Villiers and Devdutt Padikkal before his departure. After Maxwell perished for 78, De Villiers put Kolkata’s bowlers to the sword and finished unbeaten at 76 off 34 deliveries.

Shubman Gill pounded a few blows for the Knight Riders before Kyle Jamieson and Daniel Christian combined to send him back. Kolkata Knight Riders kept losing wickets in clumps between a few boundaries and found themselves teetering at 75-4 in nine overs. The likes of Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, and Shakib Al Hasan tried their best; however, it left them too much to do. The two-time champions fell short of 38 runs, slumping to their second loss in IPL 2021.

The execution was spot-on: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli began by praising Mohammed Siraj, who he thinks is a different bowler after the Australia tour and went on to admire Kyle Jamieson and Harshal Patel for having complete clarity. Kohli explained the difference between Chennai and Mumbai, stating that the plans are different and hailed the execution from the team at the Chepauk. As for the batting, the 32-year old credited Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers, remarking the latter could become unstoppable and those extra runs made it challenging for Kolkata. Simultaneously, Kohli underlined that there are areas they need to work on and are not getting ahead of themselves.

“Especially Siraj’s over to Russell [was good] – he has had some history against Russell. He’s a different bowler after the Australia tour and he shut the game out. Harshal has so much clarity in the end and I think Jamieson also bowled well. That’s the reason why we have three out of three. To be fair, on a pitch like Chennai, you probably have a bit more space to make an error on the longer boundary. It has to be on the off side and not on side. Siraj did miss on the full-toss, but he has two men on the boundary. The execution was spot-on. We played in Wankhede, Kolkata and Ahmedabad where the margin of error keeps getting smaller. Well, I said at the halfway mark we have 200 because of two genius innings back-to-back. Maxwell was outstanding and AB to follow. When he gets in with that kind of form and flow, it’s impossible to stop him. We got 40 extra runs on that pitch which slowed down. Maxi has taken to this team like duck to water. AB loves the team and they were the difference today. There are areas we can work on. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves and not getting over-excited,” Virat Kohli told in the post-match presentation.

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