Kohli's spin struggle on a turning Chepauk deck will be noteworthy to watch.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) mentor Dinesh Karthik has said that his side is not concerned about spin. He also noted the hunger and passion showcased by veteran India batter Virat Kohli to perform much better. Karthik was speaking at the pre-match press conference in Chennai ahead of RCB’s upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday.
“We have trust in our players. There’s no problem in playing spin,” Dinesh Karthik told reporters. So, I believe right now that he (Kohli) is batting as well as he has ever done. Even today, just now, as I came out, he wanted to work on one more shot. The thinking of working at one more shot at this time tells you the hunger he has in his mindset,” added the 39-year-old.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by seven wickets in their IPL 2025 opener last week. Kohli scored an unbeaten 59 in that match. Looking to chase KKR’s total of 174, Kohli and Phil Salt (56) opened the innings. The duo forged a 95-run stand for the first wicket before the England batter was dismissed by Varun Chakravarthy in the ninth over.
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Devdutt Padikkal came out to bat at number three, but he was dismissed for just 10 runs. Kohli, however, found a stable partner in skipper Rajat Patidar (34), with the duo forging 44 runs for the third wicket. Patidar, however, was caught in the deep by Rinku Singh off Vaibhav Arora’s delivery in the 16th over. RCB had victory in sight with the score reading 162/3. Kohli and Liam Livingstone (15*) sealed the chase with 22 balls to spare.
Kohli can take inspiration from his showing in IPL 2024, when he had scored 741 runs from 15 matches, which included one century and five fifties. He won the Orange Cap that season after having finished the tournament as the highest run-getter.
RCB had miraculously beaten CSK by 27 runs in their final league match to qualify for the playoffs last season. However, the Faf du Plessis-led side suffered a four-wicket loss to Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator. Bengaluru have never won the IPL despite reaching the final thrice.
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