IPL 2020: Super Over win against MI will boost RCB campaign, says Virat Kohli

Royal Challengers Bangalore won a closely contested encounter against the Mumbai Indians on Monday in a match which was ended in a super over.

Mumbai Indian put a great chase in front of Royal Challengers Bangalore and they leveled the target but in the super overs, they managed to score just 7 runs in the super.

RCB scored 201 runs in the first innings where Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, and AB-de-Villers scored half-centuries.

“I don’t have words right now. It was such a roller-coaster game. I think they played really well and patiently in the middle. It went down to the wire; we tried to execute the things we wanted to. We’ve got a close victory and these little things on the field…we really want to focus on it,” said Kohli after the game.

“I thought about who are the best guys to come back for twos and it was me and AB. It was all about stepping onto the field and taking responsibility. Fielding is something we need to work on. If we’d taken our chances, it wouldn’t have been so close,” he said.

Mumbai Indians struggled in their run-chase after losing three wickets in quick succession but later on the heroics of Ishan Kishan and Kieron Pollard brought them back in the game and they leveled the target. Kisan scored 99 runs while Pollard scored 60 runs in just 24 balls.

Virat Kohli praised his RCB team and said this super-over win could change the momentum of his team.

“It was a good match-up against Jasprit. Top quality cricket and games like these, people would love to watch. The changes that we made, make Washi (Washington Sundar) bowl in the power-play paid off. Gurkeerat didn’t get a chance to bat. The guys showed good character. Outstanding Super Over from him (Navdeep Saini). He used the yorkers and wide balls to good effect. This should boost us going forward,” said the RCB captain.

Rohit Sharma praised Ishan Kishan, for his 99 runs, and Kieron Pollard, who scored 60 runs in 24 balls.

“It was a great game of cricket. We were not in the game at all when we started off with the bat. Great innings by Ishan there and then Pollard was brilliant as usual for us. It is just that we couldn’t start well. I thought we could chase 200 with the batting power we have. We didn’t get the momentum in the first six-seven overs and also lost three wickets,” said Rohit Sharma.

“With ‘Polly’ being there anything can happen. Ishan was also hitting it well so we had the belief that we would get there. Nothing to take away from RCB they held their nerve more than us. He (Kishan) was drained out and was not comfortable. We thought we could send him, but he was not feeling fresh. Hardik (Pandya) is somebody we trust to hit long balls; it is not coming off but we are confident he can pull things off for us. I mean seven runs you need to have luck on your side. We had to get wickets but there was also an unfortunate boundary. We came back really well and a lot of positives to take away from this game.” Rohit added.