I am surprising myself a bit: Virat Kohli

The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli is having an excellent run of form in the ongoing season of the IPL. He formed a 229-run stand with AB de Villiers last night and in the process, hit his 3rd century of the season. Talking to the iplt20.com after the match, Kohli spoke on his form, his camaraderie with AB de Villiers and taking the attack to the bowlers.

He hit his 3^rd century of the season and reflecting back on the same, the Delhi batsman wasn’t shy in admitting that he is surprising himself with such performances. He also pointed out that never did he think of the personal milestones but was focused only on the team’s total.

He quoted, “I am surprising myself a little bit here, to be honest. Of all the three centuries I really didn’t think I’d get there when I was batting. Because you are thinking about the team’s score – and we try to score as many runs as possible in the final overs – I ended up getting there. That is the most important thing in this format. When you keep the team’s goal in front of you all the time you end up achieving your milestones along the way. That feels sweeter. Right now, after the game is done, I can feel the happiness of what I have done. But at that particular stage I did not think that I want to go for a hundred. I just wanted to see the ball and hit it for a six. Simple.”

AB de Villiers has been his partner in crime on most occasions this season. The duo are a nightmare for any bowling attack. Speaking on his chemistry with the South African, Kohli said he enjoys batting with him. He cited that they both give confidence to one another and admire each other’s game. When asked about his chemistry with AB and what conversations do they have in the middle, Virat Kohli quoted,

“Yes, it absolutely is. There is no conversation. There doesn’t have to be any conversation when batting with AB. More so, because we think very alike about how we want to bat and approach an innings. All we do is keep giving each other confidence and assuring each other, ‘Yes, you should go for your shots’ or ‘No, right now you should not go for the big shots’. That’s about the only conversation we have out there because we have such good understanding between us. We know what to do at what stage of the game, how to run hard, which fielder to target, etc. We understand each other so well because we are really good friends off the field. That helps. And it is a pleasure to bat with AB. I told him that today as well. The kind of shots he plays, you feel embarrassed. You feel like you can never do that. He sweeps the fast bowlers over the roof! I mean, I had never heard of something like that. This was our second 200-plus run partnership – we had one last year as well – and I am really grateful for these beautiful days.”

He also talked about his strategy in the end overs and how he managed to take on Shivil Kaushik for 30 runs in one over. He said he backed himself and believed the chinaman will not have a lot of control on his lengths. “I try and stay as low as possible and try to understand what the bowler is thinking. You need to get into the bowler’s head,” quoted the Indian Test skipper.

“When the chinaman bowler (Shivil Kaushik) came in later on, I knew he was not going to have a lot of control with his length. So, I was ready on the front foot. But I didn’t step out because I didn’t want to give him a chance to adjust and bowl back of length and turn the ball. (Virat hit Kaushik for four sixes and a four in the 19th over). If there is no turn in the pitch, even if it’s a flat ball, I would go for a six straight over the bowler’s head or over covers. Otherwise I try to stay as still as possible. As you mentioned, the timing of the stepping out is very important,” he added further.

Also read – Twitter Reactions: AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli power RCB to mammoth 248