Kohli was important on that pitch: Faf du Plessis

Following his side's win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) game, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) skipper Faf Du Plessis lauded Virat Kohli for his knock, saying that his stay was important at that playing surface and he is still passionate about the sport.

'Chasemaster' Kohli roared out loud and Mahipal Lomror, Dinesh Karthik delivered fine finishes to help RCB secure a four wicket win over PBKS at their home turf of Chinaswammy Stadium on Monday.

Following the match, Du Plessis said, "Virat was important on that pitch. He is still enjoying himself, very passionate about playing cricket. Fresh and motivated to do well."

On his feelings through the tense run chase, du Plessis said, "On the outside, not as much on the inside (was he calm?).

“Early in the competition you want to make sure you get over the line. Felt we were in the position to do that sooner. With the new Impact Player rule, we knew we had Mahipal Lomror coming in - has lot of power. Now with the extra batter you feel like even 14-15 rpo is gettable."

He praised Dinesh for his finishing, saying, "Really pleased for him (DK). I said it the other night - really important for him to get his IPL going with confidence."

Coming to the match, put to field by RCB, Punjab Kings (PBKS) saw their batters getting starts but none of them could convert it into something big.

Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (45 in 37 balls with five fours and a six), Jitesh Sharma (27 in 20 balls with a four and two sixes) and Sam Curran (23 in 17 balls) played decent knocks, but on a batting friendly Chinnaswammy, PBKS could muster only 176/6 in 20 overs.
Mohammed Siraj (2/26) and Glenn Maxwell (2/29) took two scalps each. Yash Dayal and Alzarri Joseph took a wicket each.

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In the chase of 177, RCB continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, but Kohli (77 in 49 balls, with 11 fours and two sixes) held the ship steady at the other end. After his dismissal, things got tricky for RCB, but finishing from Karthik (28n.o off 10) and Lomror (17n.o off 8) guided the team to a four-wicket win with four balls left.