After his team's victory against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Faf du Plessis praised Virat Kohli for his innings, emphasizing the significance of his presence on that particular playing surface and highlighting Kohli's continued passion for the sport.
Virat once again demonstrated his batting prowess with his match-winning 77, while Dinesh Karthik (28*) and Mahipal Lomror (17*) played much-needed cameos to guide RCB to a four-wicket win over PBKS at their home ground, the Chinnaswamy Stadium, on Monday.
"Virat was important on that pitch. He is still enjoying himself, very passionate about playing cricket. Fresh and motivated to do well," Du Plessis said after the match.
"(I was calm) On the outside, not as much on the inside. Early in the competition you want to make sure you get over the line. Felt we were in the position to do that sooner. With the new Impact Player rule, we knew we had Mahipal Lomror coming in - has a lot of power. Now with the extra batter you feel like even 14-15 rpo is gettable," the RCB skipper said about the run-chase.
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Du Plesis also lavished praise on Karthik for his finishing.
"Really pleased for him . I said it the other night - really important for him to get his IPL going with confidence."
RCB scored 176/6, led by skipper Shikhar Dhawan's 45 off 37 balls and useful contributions by Jitesh Sharma (27 in 20 balls) and Sam Curran (23 in 17 balls); but none could kick on to play a bigger knock.
In their run-chase, RCB continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, but 'Player of the Match' Virat (77 in 49 balls) held firm to play a significant knock.
(With ANI inputs)
