Virat Kohli is known for his animated celebrations on the field. He is someone who lets his emotions out. There was one occasion though when this might have backfired for the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain. In the last season of Indian Premier League, RCB posted a mammoth total of 205 runs while batting first against Kolkata Knight Riders in a home match at the Chinnaswamy stadium. Virat Kohli (83) and AB de Villiers (63) dominated the KKR bowlers to put up a score that on most days is a winning one.
KKR’s batsmen responded well as all of them chipped in with runs but they were always behind the asking rate. When skipper Dinesh Karthik was sent back with the team still needing 53 runs to win off 18 balls, it was all but over for the visitors.
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But the big hitting West Indian Andre Russell was still in the middle and he launched a vicious attack on the RCB bowlers from there on and took the game away from Kohli and his men. Russell scored 48 runs off just 13 balls, hitting 7 massive sixes and a boundary. This onslaught was triggered by Kohli’s celebration.
“Dinesh Karthik got one boundary or two then he got out. He hit the ball and I think Virat Kohli took the catch. Virat Kohli turned to Venky (KKR CEO Venky Mysore) where all the wives and KKR supporters were and he is like ‘come on’. When I looked up, like something triggered in my head like, hell no this is not over,” Russell said in an interview on Knights Unplugged.
{{/usCountry}}“Dinesh Karthik got one boundary or two then he got out. He hit the ball and I think Virat Kohli took the catch. Virat Kohli turned to Venky (KKR CEO Venky Mysore) where all the wives and KKR supporters were and he is like ‘come on’. When I looked up, like something triggered in my head like, hell no this is not over,” Russell said in an interview on Knights Unplugged.
{{/usCountry}}Russell shared a 53-run unbeaten stand with Shubman Gill, with the youngster contributing with three singles in the stand.
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“When Shubman Gill walked out, I said hey listen I am gonna take down anybody that bowls. Anyone who comes on I am gonna take them down. So just try to give me as much strike as possible. He said, ‘anything you say big man’, Boom. Since then, the game, it was like six after six and every time I was hitting a six I was not even looking at the scoreboard because sometimes you get carried away with the crowd and everything,” Russell added.
It was a match to forget for Kohli as his team never recovered from that loss and failed to make it to the knock-out stage of the competition.