We got the team we wanted, says Virat Kohli

It feels very balanced. The guys are very hungry to perform for the team. You can see that intensity in the field, says Virat Kohli of Royal Challengers Bengaluru

HYDERABAD: “We got the team that we wanted. I think on day one everyone was panicking, but these guys [team management] were very composed. They knew exactly who they wanted,” Virat Kohli of Royal Challengers Bengaluru said after his team outclassed Punjab Kings in Mullanpur on Sunday.

“And if you look at guys like Tim David, Jitesh Sharma, Rajat obviously playing the way he does, [Liam] Livingstone coming in, Salty playing the way he is. Dev (Devdutt Paddikal) played this amazing role for us at No. 3,” he said.

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“It’s coming together nicely and now with the addition of Romario [Shepherd], it gives us even more firepower at the back. You have two guys who can hit 10 sixes in 18 balls. So that was missing in all the other seasons,” Kohli said in the post-match interaction.

“If you look at the top order in the last few seasons, we had to do bulk of the scoring. But this time around, it feels like even if someone gets out, like in Chennai, guys can still keep carrying on with that momentum and keep counterattacking, like in Mumbai as well,” he said.

“It feels very balanced. The guys are very hungry to perform for the team. You can see that intensity in the field. You can see that feistiness as well, just in the body language, just the way they throw themselves around on the field,” Kohli said.

“There have been occasions where I felt like I wanted to accelerate more and more,” Kohli said while crediting Padikkal for his aggression. “But I think it was understanding that if Salty (Phil Salt) doesn’t get off to a start, my role then becomes to let the others around me to play the way they do,” he said.

“I utilised my experience, yes, to finish the game, but Dev could play like that around me, maybe Rajat [Patidar] can play like that around me. So I try to stay in there long enough for the others to know that I’m holding one end and if need be, I can accelerate,” Kohli said.

“I think you need to understand the conditions which we honestly haven’t done back home. So, the first two games at Bengaluru we had the learnings, last game was a shortened game, so we had to go hard again,” the star batter said.