“Want him to continue to bowl like that”: Virat Kohli showers praise on Yuzvendra Chahal despite RCB’s loss vs SRH

Virat Kohli showers praise on Yuzvendra Chahal: The captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore lauded his premier leg-spinner despite a loss.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has voiced against taking low-scoring chases to the last over to avoid additional pressure. Speaking after his team failed to seal a 142-run target against a bottom-ranked team, Kohli highlighted all-rounder Glenn Maxwell’s dismissal as a game-changing one.

Despite Bangalore opening batter Devdutt Padikkal scoring at a strike rate of around 80 for a large part of his innings, it was Maxwell’s 25-ball 40 which had kept them in the chase in the middle overs.

“The intent should always be to get it done as soon as possible. We don’t want to stretch things too deep. Dev [Devdutt Padikkal] and Maxi [Glenn Maxwell] set things up but Maxi’s run out was the key moment for us,” Kohli was quoted as saying by Star Sports during the post-match presentation ceremony.

Virat Kohli showers praise on Yuzvendra Chahal

RCB, who promoted veteran all-rounder Daniel Christian to No. 3 for the second time in a row without any success, were severely criticized for sending veteran batter AB de Villiers as low as No. 6. Needing 50 runs off 35 balls was well within de Villiers’ reach but lack of strike for the first half of his innings had made it difficult for him to score 12 runs off the last four balls.

“With AB [de Villiers] you’re never out of the game, but it’s also a case of keeping the guy in the flow on strike. Shahbaz [Ahmed], I think, played a crucial knock at the stage and pulled us back into the game. It’s a game of small margins. Things could have gone anywhere and Sunrisers held their nerves to not allow us to get away,” Kohli mentioned about de Villiers’ batting position.

Despite a loss, Kohli was wax lyrical about spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for being their second-best bowler this season on the back of his 15 wickets in 13 matches coming at an average of 21.60, an economy rate of 7.20 and a strike rate of 18.

“He’s bowling pretty well now. Looks like he’s worked on his bowling with all this time-off. He’s back to bowling the way we know he can bowl. Him bowling well is always a good sign for the team. We want him to continue to bowl like that. He’s been magnificent with the ball,” Kohli said about Chahal.

Chahal, who was surprisingly axed from India’s 15-member squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 despite being a regular member of the squad for the last four years, has been receiving a lot of support since then.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that it is a tad unfair on him to miss out on a squad which comprises of as many as five spinners. Readers must note that it is possible for cricket board to make changes to their T20 World Cup squads till October 10.