Virat Kohli, the skipper of Royal Challengers Bangalore, reckons that inclusion of Chris Morris after recovering from injury has added to the strength of RCB’s bowling line-up after RCB beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 82 runs. AB de Villiers scored a match-winning 73 as RCB posted 194/2 as Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 33.
KKR was restricted to 112/9 in stipulated 20 overs after brilliant performances from pacer Chris Morris and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in particular as RCB did not show any mercy to KKR’s batting line-up that included in form batsmen Shubman Gill, Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell to name a few.
Virat Kohli: Bowling Unit Looks Potent With Chris Morris In RCB Camp
Batting first, RCB posted 194/2 after AB De Villiers scored 73 off only 33 balls with 5 fours and 6 sixes. In reply, none of KKR batsmen could score beyond 35 runs as they lost the match eventually. Virat Kohli was a spectator at the other end as the duo of AB De Villiers, and the skipper added an unbeaten partnership of exactly 100 runs for the 3rd wicket in less than 8 overs.
“It is a tremendous win against a very strong side. Heading into a busy week for us, it was important to start off well. The bowling unit looks that much more potent with Chris Morris coming back. We were very happy with the total. This pitch was drier. And the day was pleasant so we thought there would be no dew,” said Virat Kohli during the post-match presentation via host broadcaster Star Sports.
Chris Morris had figures of 2/17 in 4 overs, and Yuzvendra Chahal had figures of 1/12 in 4 overs which was miserly. None of the RCB bowlers conceded more than 25 runs and all the bowlers of RCB conceded less than 10 runs per over, and every bowler picked up at least 1 wicket to reduce KKR to only 112/9.
Chris Morris and Washington Sundar picked 2 wickets each. Shubman Gill top-scored with 34 but was unfortunate to be run out. Andre Russell and Rahul Tripathi scored 16 each as apart from the trio, no other player was able to score double-digit scores. Chris Morris now has five wickets in two matches in IPL 2020, averaging 7.2 and has an economy rate of 4.5 which is exceptional.
Virat Kohli: AB de Villiers Played A Fabulous Unbelievable Innings
AB de Villiers has scored 228 runs in 7 matches averaging 57 and an enviable strike rate of 185.37 with three half-centuries. He scored his highest score of 73 in IPL 2020 against KKR.
“It was unbelievable. I thought I had a few balls under my belt, and I might start striking. He just came in and struck the third ball, and said he felt good. I said you might see a lot of people do what is done in other games, but only AB can do what he did.” said Kohli.
“It was a fabulous knock. We were looking at 160-165, and it was only thanks to his genius we got to 194. I was happy we could string together a partnership, and mine was the best seat to watch from,” he added.
AB de Villiers now has 4623 runs from 161 IPL matches averaging 40.55 with 36 fifties and 3 centuries. With this win, RCB rose to 3rd spot with five wins and two losses in seven matches to amass 10 points.