NEW DELHI: Star hitter
Virat Kohli
was praised by
Cameron Green
for his "vintage" innings that kept
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
in the hunt for the IPL playoffs.
In a crucial game on Thursday in
Dharamsala
,
Kohli
utilized all of his reprieves, including one on zero balls, to smash a 47-ball 92 to set the tone for their 60-run victory over Punjab Kings.
"He played the vintage Virat that we all know.
It was a beautiful watch from the other end. That's the beauty of having Virat in your team, as opposition you can't give him that many chances," said Green in the post-match press meet.
The all-rounder from Australia, who helped himself to a 46 off 27 balls, claimed that Kohli was attempting to be aggressive and that the drops had no effect on him.
"He's always going to make you hurt, especially if you drop him three or four times. Early in his innings, he was trying to be really aggressive. I think he looked like after a couple of dropped catches, he didn't have much to lose," added Green.
To stay in the running for the playoffs, Bengaluru still need to win their final two home games against the Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings.
Green remarked that following a run of losses, the squad had performed admirably to win four straight games.
"Yeah, I think what we've done really well is just look at the next game. I think obviously at the start of the tournament you can always look further at what's coming up, where are we on the table.
"But I think that's the beauty of where we were at (now), we kind of were pushed into a corner and all we could really do was focus on the next game," he added.
Brad Haddin
, the assistant coach for the Punjab Kings, attributed his team's loss to missed catches.
The Kings repeatedly let Kohli and Green off, leaving them battered as RCB scored a massive 241 for seven.
PBKS, in response, could only muster 181 before being bowled out.
"100 percent we lost the match because of dropped catches. If we look through the game, we dropped two guys on a duck, and both of them scored big runs. That was where the game was lost.
"There was not too much difference in the batting and bowling of both teams. The catches we put down cost us the game," said Haddin.
(With PTI inputs)
English (US) ·