This was the first time in Kohli’s career that RCB had used him as their Impact Player. He had not been part of RCB’s starting XI when they opted to bowl first, and he had been off the field during their last match as well, against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday. Kohli said he had experienced soreness in his knee during that game, and had not been in the best of health in the lead-up to Wednesday’s match either.
Kohli got RCB off to a flier in their chase of 147, rushing to 34 off 14 balls. He slowed down thereafter, and said this had been the broad plan before RCB’s innings began: maximise the powerplay on a slow pitch.
“I started off well today, so I was happy with my intensity. Then again, would have liked to carry on and finish the game off,” Kohli said. “Sometimes you have to take the conditions into account as well, the pitch slowed down considerably, and I just wanted to probably keep going in the same manner, but yeah, in the end should have probably finished that one off as well.”
Kohli suggested that the weather in Bengaluru, which has been hot and dry, had contributed to an unusually slow pitch at the Chinnaswamy.
“Yeah, it was slower than normal,” he said. “If you saw, there was not enough grass on it. The last three or four days have been very, very hot. It’s been very dry as well, so we thought it’s going to be a dry, slow wicket rather than one of those bare ones that are tacky, when we play in Chinnaswamy.
“So it was different, and hence the idea was to push the game away from the opposition and take the game away from them in the first five-six overs, and for those reasons the powerplay batting was important and hence I say that I was happy with my approach today. I was able to put the team in front early on.”
“Well, you know, we have our KPIs as a batting unit, and it says ‘Rajat to go in and assess the situation’,” Kohli said with a laugh. “I always tell him, you’re probably looking to assess the bowler’s heart rate rather than the situation – like, where do these guys stand? I mean, it’s incredible, you know, it’s clarity.”
Kohli felt RCB’s depth of hitting resources allowed their batters to play in a fearless, high-intent style.
“The way our management has stacked up our team, it allows us to play in a certain way,” he said. “I have to adapt my roles accordingly. It allows me to play a certain way up front with Salty [Phil Salt], so we pass on the baton pretty nicely in this team, and yeah, just the freedom of having Romario [Shepherd] and Tim [David], and KP [Krunal Pandya] hasn’t even batted in any games yet [one innings in five matches].
“So we’re sitting on a batting unit that’s explosive, that’s getting the job done, and yeah, it looks pretty intimidating if I was in the opposition as well, if you have Romario and Tim to walk in even after five down – these guys can get you 50 runs in four overs, so that’s pretty handy to have and that’s giving all of us a lot of freedom.”
As quickly as T20s have evolved, and as much as scoring rates in the IPL have skyrocketed, Kohli felt there was still some room for the “smarts of the game”. He felt this facet of the game could become more important in the latter half of the tournament, when teams would face the pressure of results and playoffs-qualification scenarios.
“Well, it depends on the situation and the conditions as well,” Kohli said, when asked how far the par total for a typical IPL game had shifted. “As you know, not all games are going to be 230, 240, I think. We understand the game’s moving forward pretty nicely, the demands of the modern game are pretty different, but you always have to keep an eye out on the situation and when people are under pressure.
“We’re still in the first half of the tournament; second half onwards, the games are going to get tighter, and people are going to be under pressure a lot more than now. When the freedom goes away, the pressure kicks in. That’s when the smarts of the game have to be applied as well, which I think will put teams in good stead, whoever can apply and adapt and, you know, play to the conditions and the situation will be the teams that will go a long way.
“But yeah, the game’s certainly changed. As I said, I’m trying my best. I think I’ve done okay so far in adapting. Early on, last two games, I haven’t been at my best, but yeah, I’m always looking to push the bar.”