Our win over Sunrisers Hyderabad showed that cricket can indeed be a great leveller. We had lost to the same team less than 48 hours before Tuesday's meeting in Bangalore in a match that went down to the Super Over, so it felt great to have got the better of them this time.
Of course, it might have seemed an easy win in the end thanks to that inspired knock from our captain, Virat Kohli, but in reality it was a tricky chase. We made a good start to the game itself to keep Hyderabad quiet in the first 10 overs, but then Thisara Perera and Cameron White played beautifully, capitalising on virtually every loose ball to make life difficult for us.
162 was a challenging target but Virat led from the front with that splendid innings to help us get the result we wanted. He's carried his good form from the Test series against Australia into the season and we certainly hope he can continue doing that throughout the tournament.
Virat showed a lot of maturity in that innings and what a captain's effort like that does is it leaves a positive impact on the dressing room.
That's obviously a welcome sign going forward especially with another tough game today against Kolkata Knight Riders, the reigning champions. Having AB de Villiers back is another huge boost and what's pleasing for us is he looked in good nick till he got out.
{{/usCountry}}That's obviously a welcome sign going forward especially with another tough game today against Kolkata Knight Riders, the reigning champions. Having AB de Villiers back is another huge boost and what's pleasing for us is he looked in good nick till he got out.
{{/usCountry}}We will again need to be at our best to beat the Knight Riders who are a very good all-round side. Sunil Narine is just one of several quality players they have in their team but he has again proven to be a handful for opposition batsmen.
PMG
The writer is a RCB batsman