Having watched his side cut it uncomfortably close following his failure to bat through two days earlier, Virat Kohli expressed satisfaction at ushering Royal Challengers Bangalore all the way home on Friday.
“I wanted to finish it off because Chris (Gayle) had got out,” he said after his Man-of-the-match 84 in the semifinal win over New South Wales.
“In the last game, as you saw, we had a mini-collapse. I didn't want to take any chances this time. No matter how well you have batted and how many runs you have scored, to be able to finish the game always brings the greatest satisfaction.”
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Kohli said he was determined not to attempt to force things unduly. “I didn't play across the line early in my innings,” he said. “I played correct shots, proper cricketing shots, and l luckily hit the gaps at the right time. I was striking at about 200 without slogging. Chris was at the other end; so that's always a cushion. You can always take your time.”
Despite two exceptionally good knocks, Kohli refused to take too much pleasure in his own performances. “A month-and-a-half back, I was probably going through a rough phase... as written by everyone,” he observed tongue-in-cheek.
“This is a funny game; you can't take anything for granted. I have seen what happens when you're not scoring runs. We have a final coming up and an important one-day series against England next week. I just want to stay humble and keep going as long as I can.”
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Captain Daniel Vettori said the team owed the win to Kohli and Gayle, speaking highly of the former's effort. “It's one of the best innings that I've seen.
“It's not slogging, it's good batting — hitting the gaps — clean striking, sixes over cover. You put the two games together as well, and it's the reason that RCB is in the final. We're indebted to Virat and Chris today.”
Counterpart Simon Katich made no excuses for the defeat but felt NSW would have stood a better chance had it played in Chennai. “The bowlers tried all the different plans they had with Gayle and Kohli,” he said. “But at the end of the day they played very good knocks.
“When we had our opportunities we didn't grab them and that probably in the end cost us the match. Kohli offered us a chance and who knows what could have happened. But I can't fault the effort of our guys. They kept trying right till the end. I guess what cost us the most was not having our semifinal in Chennai — we played all our games there. But we can't argue with that.
“We were outplayed today.”