Virat Kohli praised Royal Challengers Bangalore's effort in securing a thrilling Super Over win over Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on Monday. "I don't have words because it was such a rollercoaster. We batted really well to get past 200, and then the start with the ball was outstanding as well," Kohli said during the post-match press conference. "[Two wins in three games] is a bit different from the past, isn't it? We need to plug in those gaps in those performances and keep accumulating the points."
The platform for their win was set up by AB de Villiers, the Man of the Match for his stroke-filled 55, and Devdutt Padikkal who hit 54. They were well supported by Aaron Finch, who too scored a half-century. Kohli was effusive in his praise of de Villiers. "I think he was coming off a long break. Some of the shots he played were outstanding. Good with the gloves as well. You speak with him, and he keeps things simple. Doesn't watch a lot of cricket, enjoys his life. Comes out here relaxed and backs his ability. That is what we want from him," said Kohli as he collected the Man-of-the-Match award on behalf of de Villiers, who was too dehydrated to collect the award himself.
Kohli also explained the rationale behind him and de Villiers opening the batting, with eight needed to win the Super Over. "I thought about, Jasprit (Bumrah) is going to bowl and use the longer boundary. I thought about who are the best guys to come back for twos, and it was me and AB. It was an outstanding Super Over from (Navdeep) Saini against Hardik (Pandya) and (Kieron) Pollard. I think the long boundary gave him confidence," Kohli said.
Despite a good all-round performance, Kohli and his men were guilty of some sloppy fielding with Kieron Pollard being dropped twice in the same over. Kohli acknowledged the slip-ups, saying, "Fielding is something we have to keep working on. If we'd taken out chances again it wouldn't have been so close. As I said, these little things we're not capitalising on, we need to work on."
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