'Yuvraj is a proven match-winner; it's important to back him'

Star batsman Virat Kohli came to the defence of Yuvraj Singh, terming the criticism directed at him following the not-too-good performance in the recent World Twenty20 loss to Sri Lanka in Bangladesh, as "unfair".

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"Yuvraj got criticism recently; it's unfair! He has won us two World Cups (2007 T20 and 2011 50-over). He's a proven match-winner and it's important to back a player like him," Kohli, captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore, said after his side's eight-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils in Thursday's IPL match in Sharjah.

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Yuvraj hit an unbeaten 52 and shared 84 runs for the unconquered third wicket with Kohli (49 not out) to help RCB chase down the target of 146, with 20 balls to spare.

Kohli praised his bowlers for restricting the Daredevils to 145 for four.

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"It was a 170-plus track and to hold them down to 145 was big. (Yuzvendra) Chahal did extremely well, Varun (Aaron) as well and Mitch (Strac) too," he said.

Kohli was dropped on 23 and 24. Asked about that, he replied: "That's what I was telling Yuvi in the middle; if those were mis-hits they wouldn't have gone to hand."

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Daredevils captain Dinesh Karthik conceded that his side was beaten in all departments of the game.

"We didn't bat well enough, though (Ross) Taylor and (J P) Duminy had a great partnership.

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"Duminy absorbed the pressure brilliantly and hit some lusty blows at the end," said Karthik, who stood in for an injured Kevin Pietersen.

"They (RCB) batted well, kept playing their shots, came off, bad fielding! It looks like that when the opponent is hammering you.

"It's the first game of the season and we're getting used to who performs which role and it's important for us to learn and come back in the next game."

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Man-of-the-match Yuzvendra Chahal of RCB said, "It's my second match in IPL, I played one for Mumbai. I got confidence seeing the first ball turn. It is great to have the support of the captain Kohli, choosing me as the spinner over a player like Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) in the squad."

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