IPL 2018 | MS Dhoni’s form is a great sign for Indian cricket team, says Virat Kohli

IPL 2018 | MS Dhoni’s form is a great sign for Indian cricket team, says Virat Kohli

SportsCafe Desk

By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Virat Kohli, who ended up on the losing side in the Saturday’s match against CSK, felt that Dhoni was ‘phenomenal’ and him scoring runs like this would only be helpful for the Indian team. Kohli was positive for RCB’s survival in the tournament and believed that they would qualify for the playoffs.

Kohli appeared to be in awe of MS Dhoni after CSK defeated RCB quite convincingly by 6 wickets in Pune on Saturday. Ravindra Jadeja, who took 3 wickets just 18 runs, and Harbhajan Singh, who claimed 2 wickets at the cost of just 22 runs, helped CSK restrict RCB to a modest total of 127 for 9. Kohli and boys were never in contention to win the match, given the paltry total on the board, but the bowlers did well to push the game to 18th over. However, Dhoni’s smashing 31 off 23 balls ensured that CSK reached the target quite comfortably.    

Dhoni has been in form of his life in this IPL having scored 360 runs in the 10 matches he has played so far, which has placed on the third spot in the list of highest run scorers in the league. With 27 sixes, he has made his way to the top of the most six-hitter batsmen list. Kohli, who got out cheaply for just 8 runs, was disappointed with another defeat but was high on praise for the former Indian captain. 

"Everyone loves to see MSD striking the ball. It is phenomenal the way he is doing it. The bigger picture is that it is good for Indian cricket. His form is a great sign for Indian cricket," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

RCB have not been one of the best fielding sides in the tournament and have dropped too many catches. Kohli felt that drop catches didn’t help their cause and but the bowlers did well to push the match to the 18th over. Kohli and de Villiers falling in successive overs was a huge blow to the RCB camp, resulting in their ordinary performance. Parthiv Patel, who scored 53 and Tim Southee, who scored 36, were the only ones who could get into double figures for the visiting team. 

Kohli felt that they had a good second half with the bowl, but could have done better with the bowl. 

"Not the ideal day for us: losing so many wickets. But that's how this game goes. We gave a really good effort in the second half. It did play slow in the first half but it played slow throughout, which was surprising. Had we taken our chances, we could have made it harder for them. The boys showed good fight but we lost too many wickets. We would have liked to win but Dhoni played well and they deserved to win," Kohli said.

RCB now has to win all of their matches to stand a chance to qualify for the knockouts. Kohli felt that these tough situations would bring out the best in them and was positive about their chances in the tournament. 

"We know it's a tough road ahead. We need to win probably four out of five matches. These situations bring the best out of us, and I feel positive about the rest of the games," he said.

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