Virat Kohli admitted on Sunday that the current RCB team doesn’t expect him to stand up every time with numerous match-winners in its ranks, despite the fact that he has carried the burden of expectations season after season.
Following the RCB bowlers’ five-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League final here, Kohli stood tall with an undefeated 75.
After winning their first IPL championship in the 18th year, Kohli and RCB won their second straight trophy on Sunday.
“We’ve had to wait for so long and then just to have a group of guys where you feel like you’re stepping onto the ground, you don’t need to be the one to step up every time. These guys are behind you (and) around you, who can win games of cricket for you. We have so many Man of the Match awards spread throughout the group as well.”
“You look at world-class bowling of Hoff (Josh Hazlewood), Bhuv (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), Duff (Jacob Duffy), and Krunal Pandya — you can bank on him as good as ever — Rasikh (Salam) Dar was brilliant this season,” Kohli told host broadcaster.
According to Kohli, the current RCB team possesses both strength and balance.
“All the batsmen shipped in as well. I feel so happy to play in a group where we have balance, we have strength, and we are an all-around strong team and that’s why we have the confidence we have on the field right now,” he said.
According to Kohli, this year’s final felt very different from the previous one.
“I said to a few of the boys that it doesn’t feel like the same pressure as last year, we knew what kind of ability we have in the group,” he said.
“We topped the table, there’s a reason why we got here first and we just said one thing, ’if we stick to our cricket, if we execute our plans, we are the best team in the competition’ and there’s a reason why we’ve done well so far.”
“In the group stage, we ended up topping the league stage and just the skill sets (that) we have, the maturity, the composure of the guys just shown through again tonight and it was a clinical performance brought throughout the tournament,” Kohli said.
After a brief break in the season, Kohli claimed that RCB was put to the test, but a close victory over the Mumbai Indians in Raipur gave the team confidence again.
“After the break, we had a couple of losses… I mean, one loss, and then we had a close win against MI,” he said.
“I’d say that week for us was a bit tricky because we wanted to finish top, but as soon as we got there, win against MI, the belief kicked back in, then we had a comprehensive win against KKR and then, yeah, just ended up topping the table and just on our way to the finals,” Kohli said.
