IPL 2020: Kohli praises team spirit ahead of Kings XI Punjab game

Top Stories

Embracing the bright side: A guide on how to cultivate optimism

The power of solitude: Why you should go on a solo trip

How to get your kids to read: Essential tips for parents

The Royal Challengers Bangalore in a team huddle during the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. - Royal Challengers Bangalore Twitter

Dubai - Royal Challengers Bangalore rally to pull off a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.

By James Jose

Published: Thu 24 Sep 2020, 6:25 PM

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has praised his team's tremendous fighting spirit when the chips were down and said that will be the way they want to play this season.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore pulled off a 10-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening match of the IPL in Dubai, the other day. It almost wouldn't have been as the Sunrisers were on the road to victory but the Challengers staged a fine rally to get over the line.
And Kohli said that the fact that the team still believed that they can turn it around, was one of the positives.
"43 needed off five, 8 wickets in hand, I've been here for many years, AB (AB de Villiers) has been, Yuzu (Yuzvendra Chahal) has been here, we know there's not many times in the past we have given ourselves a chance to defend that. And I did not see shoulders dropping. So, that for me, is the essence of how we want to play this year, that we are never out of the game," Kohli said in the team's dressing room.

Head Coach Simon Katich, Captain Virat Kohli and Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson addressed the players in the dressing room after our win against Sun Risers Hyderabad. #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/qO48noNVTg
- Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) September 23, 2020

"And one opportunity and the game could change on its head, which happened straight after in the next over. So, that was a collective effort, it cannot happen with one or two guys. Just to remember that. As long as we can keep holding on, we will always find a way to win," he added.
Mike Hesson, the director of cricket, too echoed Kohli and said that it was a good standard to set going ahead.
"For me, it is about body language and I thought the way with no heads dropping today, and there were a number of times, number of opportunities for us to drop our heads and wave the flag and walk off and go off and it's just one of those days, and we didn't do that. So, I thought that was outstanding and set a good standard for us moving forward," said Hesson.

Quite a few familiar faces at KXIP, but our stars were determined to leave no stone unturned heading into our second match of #Dream11IPL #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers pic.twitter.com/bEK7ewALMW
- Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) September 24, 2020

Coach Simon Katich was pleased with the intensity that they showed on the field.
"There are areas where we can obviously improve on and we will obviously look at things over the next couple of days. But, in terms of the effort and energy and intensity that everyone showed today and the will to win, that stands us in really good stead," said Katich.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kings XI Punjab in their second match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday night.
Kings XI Punjab will be looking for their first win after going down to the Delhi Capitals in the Super Over.
Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab have played each other 24 times with both winning 12 each.
SQUADS:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Aaron Finch, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dale Steyn, Parthiv Patel, Adam Zampa, Isuru Udana, Moeen Ali, Gurkeerat Mann, Devdutt Padikkal, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Pavan Deshpande Joshua Philippe, Shahbaz Ahamad.
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (C), Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Glenn Maxwell, James Neesham, Chris Jordan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Sheldon Cottrell, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Arshdeep Singh, Hardus Viljoen, M Ashwin, J Suchith, Harpreet Brar, Darshan Nalkande, Deepak Hooda, Tajinder Singh Dhillon, Nicholas Pooran, Prabhsimran Singh.
MATCH DAY: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab, Dubai International Cricket Stadium, 6 p.m UAE Time.
james@khaleejtimes.com