Royal Challengers of Bangalore Captain Virat Kohli thought his squad who had yet to get their hands on the coveted trophy- deserves to win a title. RCB has made it to three finals since the start of the league in 2008, but on each occasion, they have emerged with the runners-up trophy only.
With the kind of players that RCB has boasted in their ranks over the years, there has been a high degree of excitement as to when their trophy drought will end. In a chat with Kevin Pietersen on Instagram Live, Kohli revealed that the players themselves felt the pain of the fans over the years and acknowledged the added burden his team had to deal with.
When you’ve got … In league history … You’ve got the biggest stars in the world, there will naturally be a lot of pressure on the squad. Now, even with that squad, you see … Me, AB [de Villiers], Chris Gayle [former] … Dale [Steyn] has been playing lately, we will still be more focused on this. We’ve been dreaming about it, “said Kohli.
” We’ve reached 3 finals, but we haven’t won a single one. We’ve made 3 semifinals, but those things are meaningless before you win the title. We sound just the same as everyone else.
RCB’s first final appearance in IPL came in South Africa in 2009, under the captaincy of Anil Kumble. To finish third, the team won eight of the 14 league stage games, overcame the CSK of MS Dhoni in the semifinal, only to fall short in the final hurdle against previous season’s wooden spoon holders Deccan Chargers. They made it to the semis the following season and again went a step further in 2011, but lost the title to CSK. When they made it to the knockouts next-in 2015 under the playoffs, CSK stood in the second qualifier once again in their way.
RCB rose from an unexpected place in 2016-having lost 6 of their first 10 games, winning four of their last four to make a late but commanding playoff entry.
The stand out from that season-not just for RCB-was the unrivaled style of batting that Kohli brought to the fore. He finished with a jaw-dropping tally of 973 runs, while AB de Villiers scored 687 runs, but the team came up short again in the final-giving their maiden IPL title to Sunrisers Hyderabad!
“Even though we had the best players, we just couldn’t do it. That’s one of our key goals, and we deserve to win the championship,” said Kohli.
Also, the RCB skipper felt the additional burden-within the team-of ticking a title win off the checklist also weighed down his squad in recent years.
“In recent years there has been increased pressure. We’ve always thought ‘this is the season, this is the season,’ and that’s blown us all over the place. I think we need to get back the joy,” Kohli said.
RCB Track Record:
In the midst of the patch enjoyed by Kohli in 2016, a superlative effort came in a do-or-die fixture that he rated as his most fun innings. RCB found themselves playing a must-win fixture every two days towards the end of the league stage that year, as they had to collect all possible points from their last four matches. One of those was a 15-overs-a-side game against Kings XI Punjab, in which he smashed a 113 off just 50 deliveries- 96 of which came in boundaries (12 fours and 8 sixes).
“It was against Kings XI Punjab. It was a 15-over game and I got a century in 12 overs. That was the day where I felt like I was connecting everything. I felt like I wasn’t going to get out, and I’ve never felt like that,” Kohli said.
