IPL 2021: ‘We came back and dominated,’ says RCB captain Virat Kohli after seven-wicket win over Rajasthan

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli said that his team “came back and dominated” as RCB defeated Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in Indian Premier League 2021 on Wednesday (September 29) at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. 

Hailing his team after the victory, Kohli said during the post-match presentation ceremony, “We have come back strongly in two games back-to-back with the ball which is a great sign. In T20 cricket if you can hold nerve with the ball, it means you are heading in the right direction.” 

Currently, RCB stay third in the eight-team table, led by Chennai Super Kings, and eye a strong league finish in their bid for a maiden title. “175 would have been competitive, it still was a very good wicket to bat on. With the kind of bowling attack that we have, we need a couple of breakthroughs and things will open up,” Kohli further said. 

“We knew if we held to our patience, we’ll get mistakes from the batsmen and that’s what happened but they were forced mistakes,” added Kohli. 

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During the match, Glenn Maxwell hit his second successive half-century to inspire the team towards victory. He made an unbeaten 50 off 30 deliveries as Bangalore chased down their victory target of 150 in 17.1 overs. 

Kohli (25) and Devdutt Padikkal (22) gave the team a required start for the opening wicket. Srikar Bharat (44) and Maxwell put on a third-wicket stand of 69. 

For RCB, paceman Harshal Patel taking three wickets and spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Yuzvendra Chahal claiming two each to restrict Rajasthan to 149-9. 

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Earlier, the Royals collapsed from a comfortable 100-1 in 11 overs to 117-5. We don’t have anything to lose. That kind of mindset brings a lot of freedom, have seen some funny things happen,” said Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson.

(With inputs from agencies)