In a comfortable victory, Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Mumbai Indians by 8 wickets in their opening game of the IPL 2023 season. Following their win, RCB’s star batsman, Virat Kohli, praised his team’s consistent performance in the Indian Premier League and highlighted that RCB is among the top three teams to have qualified for the playoffs the most number of times.
Partnering with his skipper Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli delivered a powerful performance as the opening batsman for RCB. The duo formed a match-winning partnership of 148 runs off 89 balls, securing victory for their team against Mumbai Indians. Following the game, Kohli attended the post-match press conference and highlighted his team’s consistency throughout the years.
During the post-match press conference, Kohli mentioned that he had been wanting to say this for a while: “After MI, who have 5 titles, and CSK, who have 4, if I’m not mistaken, we are the third team to have qualified for the playoffs the most number of times – 8 times,” he shared with the broadcasters.
According to Virat Kohli, RCB has been a consistently strong team in the cash-rich league over the past few years. They have qualified for the playoffs on eight occasions and have reached the final three times. However, despite their impressive track record, they have yet to secure an IPL title.
Mumbai Indians had set a competitive target of 171-7 in their allotted 20 overs. Nevertheless, the RCB openers appeared to be in a rush, as they quickly built momentum from the very first ball. In the end, they successfully chased down the target in just 16.2 overs, significantly improving their net run rate.
In an impressive batting display, Virat Kohli scored 82 runs off 49 deliveries, which included 6 fours and 5 sixes. Skipper Faf du Plessis contributed 73 runs off just 43 balls, hitting 5 fours and 6 sixes. Glenn Maxwell then finished off the job, hitting 2 sixes in just 3 balls, as RCB defeated MI by 8 wickets with 22 deliveries remaining.