Kohli will be keen for a last hurrah
Kolkata Knight Riders face stiff test against Bangalore in today’s clash
Virat Kohli, who stunned the cricket world yesterday when he announced that he will be relinquishing his Royal Challangers Bangalore captaincy after this season, will be eager to prove a point to his detractors wrong in the Indian Premier League this season. The move comes days after he made similar announcement that he will be quitting India’s Twenty20 captaincy at the end of the World Cup in UAE.
“This will be my last IPL as captain of RCB. I’ll continue to be an RCB player till I play my last IPL game. I thank all the RCB fans for believing in me and supporting me,” Virat Kohli said on Twitter.
“This has been on my mind for a while as I recently announced stepping down from the T20 captaincy to manage my workload, which has been immense for so many years and I want to be committed to the responsibilities I am fulfilling.”
In this backdrop, a winning start is imperative in today’s clash against Kolkata Knight Riders in Abu Dhabi.
The star Indian batsman has been unfairly under pressure on various counts, his long drought of international centuries since November 2019 — though he has scored several half-centuries during this phase, lack of international trophies, his captaincy and his aggressive show of emotions on the field and so on and on. All this after being just six short of Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 One Day International centuries since making his debut against Sri Lanka in Dambulla
Kohli’s chances to get a hold on the elusive IPL trophy has been strengthened by some smart replacements.
in 2008 and having a healthy average of 50-plus in all three formats.
Favouring conditions
The conditions are likely to favour the Indian skipper, where there will less lateral movement in the air and the bowlers a likely to capitalise on the slow pitches by bringing in their slower variations.
Kohli’s chances to get a hold on the elusive IPL trophy has been strengthened by some smart replacements to the Bangalore squad, probably the biggest in terms of numbers for the UAE leg of the IPL. With 10 points from seven games, Bangalore will be eager to get the required points quickly and seal the play-off berth.
Kolkata Knight Riders can ill afford any slip-ups in their quest for the third IPL trophy. With just four points from seven games, the Eoin Morgan-led team need to win at least five of the seven remaining matches to have a realistic chance to keep their hopes alive in the tournament. And they have the depth and variety to pull it off, but to achieve it, a winning start in today’s contest will give them the right impetus to trust themselves in the future games.