Virat Kohli, the Indian captain acknowledged that he was afraid to hit the nets for the first time in five months but he remarked that his first training session surpassed his expectations.
Virat Kohli is in charge of Royal Challengers Bangalore since 2013 besides being the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world since 2017. He has averaged more than 50 across all formats in international cricket.
Virat Kohli. Image Credit: Getty Images.
Virat Kohli Impressed With Spinners And Pacers At Practice Sessions
The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain resumed training practices after a five-month induced corona-virus break. The net session was also attended by South African pacer Dale Steyn and RCB team director Mike Hesson.
“(It went) much better than expected, to be honest. I was pretty scared. I hadn’t picked up a bat for five months, but yeah it came out better than I thought, to be honest,” Kohli was quoted as saying by the franchise’s website.
The 31-year-old, who was RCB’s highest run-scorer last year with 464 runs in 14 matches, said staying fit during the lock-down helped him during the net session even though he was training after a long break.
“I’ve trained quite a bit during the lockdown, so I’m feeling quite fit and that helps. Because the body is light and you react better, I feel like I have more time on the ball. That’s a big plus,” he said.
RCB arrived in Dubai last week ahead of the 13th IPL which is scheduled to begin on September 19. The T20 event was moved out of India due to the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.
“Otherwise you come heavier into the season, the body isn’t moving as much, and it starts playing on mind, but yeah, as I said it went much better than I expected,” Virat Kohli remarked.
The team was seen practicing after completion of quarantine period as besides Virat Kohli, a spin trio of Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Nadeem and a few pacers also trained alongside him and the skipper was pleased with the way they went about their business in the first practice session.
“The spinners looked pretty good for day one, they pitched the ball in consistent areas for long enough.
“Shahbaz was good, Washy (Washington) was very good, I saw Chahal bowl well too. The seamers went through their motions a little bit. All in all, a decent start to our camp,” said Virat Kohli, whose last assignment was the two-match Test series against New Zealand in early March.
RCB have never won the coveted IPL trophy although they have finished runners-up thrice, most recently in 2016.
Shikhar Dhawan Says Delhi Capitals Are Confident
Members of the Delhi Capitals squad also took part in their first nets session and their opener Shikhar Dhawan said that it will take some days to adapt to the conditions.
“We gathered here after a long time, so there was a lot of energy and it was a good start. We have been here for last six days, the conditions are hot, so I felt a little heaviness. I feel in 2-4 days, body will acclimatize with it and the sharpness and quickness will be back,” left-handed batsman Shikhar Dhawan said.
“Emphasizing on mental preparation, Dhawan said: “It is important to think positive, we shouldn’t think that we are here after a long time, we have to stay one step ahead, we need to think we are playing good cricket. That will create a sort of energy if we think that way it will help us and I am confident that we will do well in this tournament,” he concluded.
Delhi Capitals too have never won IPL but has Indian cricketers in the likes of Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Ishant Sharma, Ravi Ashwin and Ajinkya Rahane and foreign recruits like Chris Woakes, Shimron Hetmyer and Kagiso Rabada to name a few.