Virat Kohli in action during IPL 2025© AFP
Royal Challengers Bengaluru talisman Virat Kohli on Thursday lauded the batting unit after a hard-fought 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, saying they focused on timing the ball rather than forcing shots, which helped them post a competitive total. Put in to bat, Kohli struck a fluent 70 off 42 balls and shared a 95-run stand with Devdutt Padikkal (50 off 27) for the second wicket before a late flourish propelled RCB to 205 for five. In response, Rajasthan Royals were cruising at 110 for two but RCB pulled things back to restrict them to 194 for nine, with Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood returning match-winning figures of 4/33. “Look, we’ve had three pretty average games at home and we discussed a few things we need to get right as a batting unit and we applied ourselves well to get the total on board.
“The pitch wasn’t as flat as the score makes it look. Dew made the ball come on nicely in the second half and credit to Rajasthan for coming out and playing some good shots.”
The victory marked RCB’s first at home this season following three consecutive defeats.
RCB have also been on the wrong side of the toss in all their home matches.
“The first challenge is winning the toss (chuckles). In the second half there is always dew. We’ve struggled to put on a par score,” Kohli said.
“The template is now pretty simple, for one guy to bat through and the others to attack around him. Devdutt and I know this ground well. Just wanted to let Salt to his thing at the top.
“There is pace and bounce in the first few overs with the new ball. Today we just tried to time the ball and keep enough pressure on the opposition to keep giving us boundary balls.”
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