Kohli: I wanted to stay till the end

"If you want your team to do a certain thing, you have to go out there and do it yourself first," Royal Challengers Bangalore's Virat Kohli said after scoring a match-winning century against Rising Pune Supergiants.

Published : May 07, 2016 21:53 IST , Bengaluru

Virat Kohli scored his second century of the IPL at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Virat Kohli scored his second century of the IPL at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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Virat Kohli scored his second century of the IPL at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) star Virat Kohli stated that the disappointing loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pushed him to apply the finishing touches to Saturday's game against Rising Pune Supergiants here. Nearly a week ago, Kohli made only 14 as RCB fell short by 15 runs, but this around, he stuck around until the very end to anchor a successful chase.

>Report: Kohli century gives RCB third win of the season

"I was very disappointed after the SRH match, because I understand that if you want your team to do a certain thing, you have to go out there and do it yourself first. I failed to do that in Hyderabad, and that hurt me a lot. I think I had that at the back of my mind today. That feeling came through in terms of wanting to stay till the end," Kohli said.

Gayle dropped for the game

The captain explained that West Indian hitter Chris Gayle had indeed been dropped for this fixture. "Gayle was not rested. We chose Travis Head in place of him because we felt like we needed more solidity in the middle order. Travis strikes the ball really well, and Rahul and I have been opening well for the team. Travis can bowl some offspin as well. We planned to use him, because they have three left-handers in the side. If there was a situation where a bowler goes for a few runs, we had the option of using Travis," he said.

As for Sarfaraz Khan, Kohli stated that the youngster needs to improve his fitness if he is to grab a place in the eleven. Despite showing potential with the bat, Sarfaraz has not played the last three matches. "He understands that he needs to work on his fitness and fielding. You can't afford to have too many guys in the field who are not up to the mark with their speed."

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