18 April 2024 last updated at 15:13 GMT
 
Wanted to finish it off: Kohli
Saturday 08 October 2011

The Royal Challengers Bangalore once again chased down a mammoth total to reach the final of CLT20. RCB skipper was delighted with his team’s efforts and singled out Virat Kohli’s match-winning innings of 84* for special praise.

“It’s one of the best innings I have seen. You put those two games together and also put those two match-winning innings together and you see RCB’s in the final. All credit to Chris Gayle and Virat at how well they played. It’s not slogging, it’s good batsmanship… picking the gaps, clean striking, sixes over cover… all the things people love to watch. It’s great to be on the winning side.”

Despite the obvious positives, RCB’s ineptness with the ball didn’t impress Vettori at all.

“We didn’t bowl well at all. It’s difficult to sum up [how worried we were]. You come off the field disappointed about going for 200. But you have to be realistic and say that it’s an incredibly tough wicket to bowl on and the ball seems to travel. So, if you can keep them under 200 then you have done a good job. But there are a lot of disappointed bowlers in the room. We have got to make sure that we are better than that in Chennai.” he lamented.

Virat Kohli successfully kept his cool throughout his innings and managed to take RCB home and the young right-hander revealed how he kept his cool under such immense pressure.

“I was charged up but at the same time I wanted to keep myself calm. [In the] Last game also I had a rush of blood and I wanted to hit Shaun Tait for that six so the situation got easier. But today when the strike bowler took two wickets, I decided to block the next four balls.” he revealed

 “I knew with the way I was hitting the ball today I just needed three balls to turn the match around again and that’s exactly what happened. When Mitchell Starc came on, I was able to take him on. I thought of that and didn’t throw my wicket away.”

Chasing totals above 200 is always difficult and Kohli revealed the satisfaction he derived from his side’s successful chases.

“There’s no better feeling for a batsman than chasing that kind of a score. We batted so well, finishing in the end is very important. As a batsman you feel very satisfied with that kind of a performance. I wanted to finish it off because Chris Gayle had gotten out. In the last game you saw how difficult it gets when you collapse. We didn’t want to take any chances. That’s why I blocked a few but I was confident that given a few loose balls we can get there. Really, really satisfied that I could finish it off.” he opined.

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