Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli is one of the most influential leaders in world cricket right now. While his numbers for Team India speak volumes on the success he has had, Kohli has struggled to replicate the same for his franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
But this time around, Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore have made a dashing start to IPL 2021 winning both their games so far. They have stamped their authority in both the games but the Sunrisers Hyderabad encounter saw a dramatic finish where RCB pulled things back in a fascinating manner. Hyderabad were cruising to victory with 96 for one at one stage, but the dismissal of David Warner turn the tide.
Virat Kohli brought Shahbaz Ahmed based on his instincts – Simon Katich
Despite losing Warner, Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey looked determined to sail past the target until the 17th overs when things completely turned in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s favour. Virat Kohli decided to introduce the young and inexperienced all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed into the attack that paid dividends as the Bengal all-rounder scalped three wickets – Bairstow, Pandey, and Abdul Samad giving only one run that changed the plot of the game. Sunrisers Hyderabad never looked to recover from there and finished six runs short in pursuit of 150 runs.
Meanwhile, the decision to bowl Ahmed at that part of the game, however, was seen as a surprising one by many considering RCB had the options of Jamieson Dan Christian as well as Washington Sundar. Speaking at the end of the game, coach Simon Katich revealed that the decision to bowl Ahmed was taken by Virat Kohli purely out of instincts, and it paid off beautifully.
“During the strategic time out, Virat Kohli told us his gut feeling is to bowl Shahbaz again – we agreed to it. He deserves a lot of credit as skipper for taking and going with instincts”, Katich said as per the RCB website.
With two wins in two matches, Royal Challengers Bangalore will look to keep up the momentum and take one step at a time to avenge their goal of lifting the IPL trophy.
