No one can ever play like Kohli: Watson
Dec 23, 2018 at 4:54 PM
Praising his Royal Challengers Bangalore’s teammate Virat Kohli, Shane Watson said “No one can ever play like that!” after Kohli scored his fourth ton in the ongoing Indian Premier League on Wednesday night.
“To be able to score one (century) in your entire career (in T20s) is an incredible feat, but for someone to score four hundreds in a (single edition) of the IPL!”
Entering the tournament without a T20 century, Kohli has hit four centuries in the on-going edition. On Wednesday(May 18) Kohli scored his fourth century in a match which was reduced to 15-overs per side due to heavy rain. The Royal Challengers’ skipper, with a stunning 865 runs from 13 innings this season, has come in for high praise from sportspersons across the world.
Watson, who has keenly watched Kohli’s batting in the competition, told, “Virat and AB (De Villiers) as well, they’re playing a different game at the moment. Their control and what they’re doing is mind-blowing. It’s a privilege to be able to play with RCB, to get to know Virat and AB, off the field as well and see what incredible people they are.”
When asked about plans to stop Kohli, the Australian all-rounder said: “Every time I have played against Virat, there have always been specific plans, more on how to contain him. He rarely makes a mistake. As a bowler, I just want to contain him as much as I can.”
“It’s more about trying to mix it up so that he doesn’t really have much of an idea about where I am going to bowl at. But by the end of the third over or so he is reading me like a book and hits wherever he wants,” he quipped.
RCB struggled a lot during the first half of the tournament due to their wayward bowling but now they are finally looking like a settled unit.When asked about that, Watson feels the pressure on the bowlers has eased thanks to big numbers on the board.
“When you have got a few more runs to defend, it makes it a bit easier. When the opposition is chasing 12 runs an over from ball one, you have a little bit more room for error if things don’t go exactly your way,” he added.
After registering only four wins in the first ten games, RCB’s chances of qualifying for the play-offs were hanging in a balance but they made a brilliant turnaround to win the next three matches. Sitting at the second position in the league table,they are now looking like serious title challengers.
Talking about the mood in their camp, Watson said: “We are flying. To be able to win and get ourselves in this position before the next round is an incredible achievement. It will take franchises some time to find out the right mix for the new players. A couple of really crucial players were missing as well. It’s just about finding the right balance. Once we did, things have just continued to go up from there. It’s just a really special franchise to be involved with right now. Everything has gelled and everything has clicked. We are having a very good time.”