That partnership was the gamesealer – Virat Kohli on his stand with Devdutt Padikkal against GT
As RCB chased down a record target of 206 at Chinnaswamy, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal knitted together a crucial 115-run stand for the second wicket. Padikkal walked out to bat when RCB lost Jacob Bethell early in the innings. That led to an incredible show of fireworks from Kohli and Padikkal, and RCB never looked back.
Kohli won the Player of the Match award for his phenomenal knock. Talking at the post-match presentation, Kohli opened up on the conditions and the pre-innings calibration that was key to his knock. He was also vocal about how Devdutt Padikkal’s innings was crucial in helping RCB win the game.
Shedding light on the conditions, Kohli said, “Well, to be honest, it was. I mean, we had to kind of assess the wicket early on because A, they have a quality bowling attack and B, with a chase of 200 in Bangalore, we know we're only one partnership away. So I think the conversation between me and Padikkal was to try and analyse the first couple of overs what's going on and then try and take the game on from there.”
Explaining why Devdutt Padikkal’s knock was special, Kohli added, “I think Dev's done this twice this season where he's come in and absolutely played a blinder from ball one. You know, the first ball he hit off Rabada was magnificent and he has the game awareness and the ability, especially in conditions like ours, to be able to play good cricketing shots and hurt opposition, striking over 200, which is quite rare, to be honest.”
He further stated, “You never see him slogging the ball. You feel like he's not giving you a sniff in the game and yet he's scoring so freely. So I think Dev's innings was the clear difference in the first half.”
Shedding light on his role, Kohli added, “And then I was just trying to stay, in the game enough so that he doesn't feel all the pressure. And it was my responsibility to try and hit boundaries at the right times. And yeah, that partnership was the gamesealer and the gamechanger for us eventually.”
Revealing his conversations with Padikkal, Kohli revealed, “I mean, look, even in our bowling innings, I think we bowled really well to pull things back. They were about, I felt, 20-25 short in the end. We were looking at 230, 235 at one stage. But our bowlers did a magnificent job and the feedback was the pitch is not bad at all. It's probably the best batting conditions we've had so far. The ball was coming on nicely. The spinners were not quite getting the ball to grip. It wasn't holding into the pitch. So we felt like if you stay in the game enough, string in a big partnership, then it's going to get tougher and tougher. And yeah, once you get hold of the conditions and you get on top of the bowlers, then you obviously back yourselves a little more to take the game on.”
He concluded by stating, “And that was the conversation. Dev was going great guns and the idea was just to, keep pressing the bowlers back. And whoever we felt like, we want to take down, the message was very clear from the batsmen and then the non-striker saying, yeah, go for it. So there was intent and there was clarity and feedback from the other end. So we didn't have any doubts whatsoever through the partnership. And I think that's what worked for us."
