A vintage Virat Kohli, and — by his standards — a not so vintage Chris Gayle. The spectators, who took almost every seat at the Ferozeshah Kotla, enjoyed the game, the last of this season of the Indian Premier League at this venue.
The result did not matter. Both teams had lost the race for the playoffs. This was a battle for pride, if not redemption, and Royal Challengers Bangalore emerged smiling with a 10-run victory.
Kohli had not quite looked like himself in the preceding matches; three fifties in nine innings does not reflect his love for runs. He added a half century tonight that entertained the audience for sheer aesthetic value of the strokes that he produced on a canvas that has been his for long.
Gayle paled in comparison, though the West Indian carted the ball into the galleries a few times. The crowd loved it.
A couple of shots from Kohli need special mention. It was nothing more than a forward defence off Corey Anderson that scattered the spectators behind cover boundary, and then a breathtaking on-drive off Amit Mishra was easily the shot of the day, the ball beating the man on the fence in a flash. It was silken all the way and not even Mishra was grudging.
Royal Challengers’ 161 after electing to bat presented Daredevils with a competitive chase. The focus was on winning, and there was nothing trivial about the contest. A win mattered and seriousness was evident all the way. The constant conversations Kohli had with the bowlers demonstrated his desire to win.
Daredevils needed a thrust at the top. But, Harshal Patel in his first match this edition, Avesh Khan making his T20 debut, and Pawan Negi served the Royal Challengers well.
