After seeing his captain make a telling difference in the important victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Dubai this Saturday (October 10), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) pacer Chris Morris hailed Virat Kohli, saying "he is an absolute genius".
On a day where most batsmen found timing the ball difficult, Kohli assessed the surface beautifully and paced his innings accordingly before using the long handle to take the game away from the opposition.
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His knock of 90* runs off 52 deliveries took RCB to 169/4 in 20 overs, a score above par for the slowing pitch, which the team later defended by 37 runs.
Kohli's stay included 4 fours and 4 sixes, most of them hit towards the end, while he ran extremely hard for the rest of the innings, showing inspirational fitness levels amid a great deal of energy-sapping humidity.
"Halfway through our batting innings, I would be lying to you if I say we did not think that we needed to get a move on, Virat played brilliantly, the wicket was two paced and sticky, it was a Test match length wicket, you did not need to try too much on this wicket," said Morris during the post-match press conference, as quoted by ANI.
"At the end of the day, the wickets will get slower, hopefully, some of the bowlers will get luckier as compared to the batsmen. After 16 overs, we just thought something needed to happen, there's a reason why Virat has the most number of runs in the IPL."
"He is an absolute genius, he did really well against such an experienced bowling lineup. He likes to lead from the front. I like how he goes about his game, he is a leader who likes to win and it helps the rest of the team," he added.
Morris, who was playing his first game of the tournament after recovering from injury, bowled a fantastic spell of 3/19 in the second half and was key to RCB restricting CSK to just 132/8.
"I was very nervous, it has been a while since I last played a game, so I was very nervous. I had butterflies in my stomach, it was like I was making my Test debut again. Happy to get on the park, any contribution I can make. It is a good feeling," he said.
With this win, their fourth in six outings, including two losses, RCB reached third in the points table.
The team next lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Monday (October 12) in Sharjah.
