Virat Kohli hails balanced RCB squad after historic IPL triumph

Virat Kohli praised Royal Challengers Bangalore’s balanced squad after their maiden IPL title win in Ahmedabad. He highlighted the team’s depth, world-class bowling, and collective performances, saying the victory reflected maturity, composure, and belief across the group

Ahmedabad: For someone who has carried the weight of expectations season after season, Virat Kohli on Sunday acknowledged the current RCB outfit doesn’t expect him to step up every time with multiple match-winner in its ranks.

Kohli stood tall with an unbeaten 75 after RCB bowlers set up their five-wicket win in the final of the Indian Premier League against Gujarat Titans here.

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Having clinched their maiden title win in the 18th year of the IPL, Kohli and RCB sealed a second consecutive victory on Sunday for their second title.

“We’ve had to wait for so long and then just to have a group of guys where you feel like you’re stepping onto the ground, you don’t need to be the one to step up every time,” Kohli told host broadcaster.

“These guys are behind you (and) around you, who can win games of cricket for you. We have so many Man of the Match awards spread throughout the group as well.”

“You look at world-class bowling of Hoff (Josh Hazlewood), Bhuv (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), Duff (Jacob Duffy), and Krunal Pandya — you can bank on him as good as ever — Rasikh (Salam) Dar was brilliant this season,” Kohli said.

Kohli said the current group of RCB players have the balance as well as the strength.

“All the batsmen shipped in as well. I feel so happy to play in a group where we have balance, we have strength, and we are an all-around strong team and that’s why we have the confidence we have on the field right now,” he said.

Kohli said the final this year felt a lot different than last year.

“I said to a few of the boys that it doesn’t feel like the same pressure as last year, we knew what kind of ability we have in the group,” he said.

“We topped the table, there’s a reason why we got here first and we just said one thing, ’if we stick to our cricket, if we execute our plans, we are the best team in the competition’ and there’s a reason why we’ve done well so far.”

“In the group stage, we ended up topping the league stage and just the skill sets (that) we have, the maturity, the composure of the guys just shown through again tonight and it was a clinical performance brought throughout the tournament,” Kohli said.

Kohli said RCB were tested after a short break for them in the season but a close victory over Mumbai Indians in Raipur instilled the belief back in the group.

“After the break, we had a couple of losses… I mean, one loss, and then we had a close win against MI,” he said.

“I’d say that week for us was a bit tricky because we wanted to finish top, but as soon as we got there, win against MI, the belief kicked back in, then we had a comprehensive win against KKR and then, yeah, just ended up topping the table and just on our way to the finals,” Kohli said.