IPL 2021: Had best seat in the house tonight, Virat Kohli on Padikkal’s firework

Royal Challengers Bangalore rightfully reclaimed the top spot in the ongoing IPL 2021 on Thursday when the Virat Kohli-led side thrashed Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals by 10 wickets in Mumbai on Thursday.

While Kohli would have loved to steer the victory on the day, the skipper played second fiddle to young opener Devdutt Padikkal on the night as the duo chased down the target of 178 runs within 17th over to stretch their victory run to four games.

The duo stitched an unbeaten 181-run stand in the wub with Kohli remaining not out at 71 while Padikkal shot 11 boundaries and six maximums to reach his century in just 51 balls.

Speaking of Padikkal’s performance, the skipper said that the duo discussed when the target was too close and Padikkal needed few runs to reach his century.

“We spoke about it (on the 100). He told me to finish it off, I told him to get to it first. He said many will come, I said yea you can say that after you get to the landmark. He deserved to get the three-figure mark,” Kohli said at the post-match press conference.

Kohli further added that Padikkal is an amazing batsman and he had the best seat in the house tonight to see the fireworks.

“It was an outstanding innings. He batted really well for his first season last time. There was a lot of talk about him not accelerating after getting to 30s. He’s put all that to rest. I think I had the best seat in the house tonight,” Kohli said. 

“It was a good pitch to bat on to be honest, and him being tall meant that bowlers struggled with their lengths. T20 cricket is always about partnership cricket. You can’t always go big from the word go. When one guy is going well, it’s important for me to ensure that I don’t lose my wicket. It can change on other days.”