Virat Kohli played his best innings in this year’s Indian Premier League when his team needed it most as RCB won by 8 wickets against Gujarat Titans to keep their playoff hopes alive. Table topper Gujarat Titans won the toss and elected to bat first at Wankhede. GT posted 168 from their 20 overs courtesy of a solid knock from skipper Hardik Pandya. RCB simply had to win this game although their fortune was not in their hands. It was a Virat Kohli show in the second innings as the former RCB captain smashed 73 from 54.

Let’s look at the talking points of the GT vs RCB match –

Inconsistent Shubman Gill

It has been a good season with the bat for Shubman Gill overall. The only thing is missing from his is consistency. Gill has 403 runs from 14 matches which is definitely a good number for an opener. Against RCB, Gill got dismissed for just 1 as the 22-year-old edged the ball to the slip against Josh Hazelwood. Titans will need Gill to score some runs in the playoffs.

Hardik Pandya built the innings for GT

GT skipper had a bit of a dip in his batting form in the last few games but against RCB, Hardik was back among runs. After managing a string of low scores (10,3,1,24,11,7) Pandya smashed an unbeaten 62 off 47 and built the innings. His knock included 4 boundaries and 3 sixes. The 28-year-old has impressed everyone with his captaincy skills in this season and has been one of the most important reasons why GT are topping the charts in their very first outing in IPL. Although this knock did not help GT win the game the fans will be happy to see their skipper back in good touch.

115 run opening stand between Faf and Kohli in GT vs RCB

In this do or die game, RCB bowlers did a great job with the ball to restrict GT to under the 170 mark, even in the absence of their best death bowler Harshal Patel. Coming on to chase, RCB openers dominated GT bowling right from the first over. Kohli was majorly attacking as Faf Du Plessis played a supportive role. Both of them put together 115 for the opening stand to make the game one-sided.

 Virat Kohli – the match-winner of the GT vs RCB game

The headline of the game is Virat Kohli’s return to form. The icon of the game had a horrific tournament this year with the bat. Kohli had one thing on his mind i.e. to attack with positive intent. He played some eye-catching shots from the very first over and continued to do so till the end overs. The 33-year-old scored his second fifty in this edition after he smashed a 54 ball 73 which earned him the man of the match award for the first time in this IPL. His knock included 8 boundaries and 2 sixes and ended his innings with a strike rate of 135. A very satisfied Kohli said he is happy to play a match-winning knock for his team after a long time.

Virat Kohli told Star Sports after winning the man-of-the-match award, “I can keep going, there are no issues at all. It was an important game. Was disappointed that I have not done enough for the team. “Today was a game where I was able to create an impact for the team.. this puts us in a good position. You need to keep the perspective right. You can forget the process in order to live up to the expectations. I have worked really hard.”

“I batted 90 minutes in the nets yesterday (Wednesday). I came in very free and relaxed.”