Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Delhi Capitals (DC) by six wickets at the Arun Jaitely Stadium on Sunday (April 27) to claim top spot on the IPL 2025 points table.
Chasing 163 to win, RCB felt the heat after being reduced to 26/3. However, Virat Kohli and Krunal bailed them out of trouble with a 119-run stand for the fourth wicket.
While Kohli fell after scoring 51 off 47 balls, Krunal remained unbeaten on 73 off 47 balls to take the visitors over the line with nine deliveries to spare.
After the win, Kohli stressed the importance of "stitching a partnership and taking it deep," especially in a season where he said it's been difficult for batters to start hitting from the outset.
Kohli's consistency has been remarkable this season and the knock against DC was his sixth 50-plus score in 10 innings.
"The total on the board. What the conditions are like. Who are the bowlers that are due to bowl. Who are the bowlers that are going to be hard to get away," Kohli told the broadcaster.
"So, I try and make sure that my singles and doubles don't stop. And then you keep getting the odd boundary in between. The game never gets stagnant. So, that's always been my focus to keep working on rotating strikes, singles and doubles.
"People, I think, are forgetting the importance of stitching in a partnership or going deep into the innings in T20 cricket," he added.
"And I think this year around, you're seeing that you can't just come out and tee off from ball one. You need to have professionalism, to read the situation and try and get into a position where you can start dominating the bowlers.
"And for that, you need to string in a partnership. And it won't come easy on a slow pitch if you don't know how to rotate the strike. So, yeah, that's pretty much my method.
"I analyse the conditions, understand what the score on the board is, understand what the situation demands of me and have the skills to kind of keep rotating the strike and not be stagnant on one end," he explained.
Virat Kohli played the anchor role to perfection while Krunal Pandya came up with timely hits on a difficult surface to pull off a successful run chase for RCB against DC.
"Whenever there's a chase on or there's a situation I go in, I keep checking with the dugout whether we are on course, what is my role, what is the kind of innings I need to play," Kohli said. "It was a top win, we were under pressure, 3 for 26 and then me and Krunal getting a 100-run partnership."
