Virat Kohli roared after win over PBKS, says Points Table will not decide the 'mood' in the camp

Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Punjab Kings by 24 runs at Mohali.

Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Punjab Kings at PCA Stadium in Mohali in the IPL 2023. RCB with heavy top order scoring and a brilliant spell from Mohammed Siraj won their third game of the season. Bangalore are now 5th in the points table with 6 points in 6 games. PBKS Wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma (41) did try his best to chase RCB’s 175 but he could not gather support from the other end. Md. Siraj with his 4 wickets rattled PBKS and also took lead in the Purple Cap.

Top order batting helped RCB outclass Punjab

Put into bat first, RCB Openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis had a wonderful start. They both added 137 runs in 16 overs for the first wicket. Captaining in this game, Virat Kohli scored 59 runs and Faf was the top scorer with 84 runs. Captain Virat was happy with RCB’s comeback after a loss against CSK. Virat Kohli said, “This win does not make us an invincible team, or the league position before today did not make us a bad team. The table can not define our mood when you have just played 6 games”. Virat struggled against Punjab Kings spinners as well during his inning.

On his batting, he said, “After over 7 and 8, as soon as the ball was getting scuffed up. We changed our strategy to bat deeper”. RCB middle order struggled to use the momentum given by Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli.

Punjab Kings Captain Sam Curran was not too pleased with the team’s batting. Curran said, “In the end, we just did not bat well enough. They bowled pretty well as well but we lost wickets”. For Punjab, Only Prabhsimran Singh (46) and Jitesh Sharma (41) could score freely against RCB bowlers.

Lockdown helped Mohammed Siraj in his bowling

Mohammed Siraj bowled magnificently and picked up 4 wickets in his 4 overs. He was awarded Player of the Match for his spell. He bowled 4 overs and conceded only 21 runs to pick up 4 wickets. Talking about his good rhythm and redemption in the IPL, Siraj said, “The lockdown was very important for me. I was quite down before that because I used to be expensive earlier. I focused on my gym training on my bowling and I wanted to do well”.