By the end of ten overs, RCB were 104 for 1, with Salt gone. KKR, earlier, were 107 for 2 after ten overs. Not too different. But it’s not just about the numbers. You knew it had gone away from KKR by then. Kohli being in the middle was a major factor. It was a chase, after all.
“Kohli, generally, loves to finish the game, stay not out. But here, he stayed not out with the intent. He continued batting with that intent,” Rayudu said. “That shows that… if Kohli is ready to do that, the rest eight [batters] will do that for RCB. And that’s a great, great sight. That shows his leadership in the batting department.”
“Everyone sings his praise for a reason: he gets these runs, especially when the team needs it, in a chase,” Aaron said. “There are a lot of batsmen who get a lot of first-innings centuries, first-innings runs, but he always manages to get those important runs in a chase. And that is priceless to any team, to the Indian team, to RCB, and leadership in his own role is going to be important for RCB.”
With all that intent in the chase, the two points were in the bag in 16.2 overs. KKR had been 153 for 6 at the same stage in their innings, and scored just 21 more in the 22 remaining balls. That – the wickets in the middle overs and the lack of runs at the end, as a result – was where the game was won and lost. As Kohli, Salt and Patidar underscored in their rapid chase.
