It seems that the rift between Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli is still there as the duo didn’t shake hands after the completion of the match between the Delhi Capitals (DC) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday.
Sourav Ganguly is currently with the Capitals in the role of a mentor. During his last phase as the BCCI president, he had a public strike with former India captain Virat Kohli surrounding the latter’s captaincy.
Fresh videos suggest that when both the teams came together to shake hands and were lined up in a queue, Sourav Ganguly skipper the queue, moved around Ricky Ponting while ignoring Kohli’s handshake. Virat, after having a brief chat with Ponting, looked toward Ganguly who didn’t look back at the RCB star.
Watch: Sourav Ganguly jumped the queue and avoided handshake with Virat Kohli
https://twitter.com/king_Virat140/status/1647235776256589824?s=20
Virat Kohli helps RCB to their second victory in IPL 2023
Meanwhile, Virat bagged the Player of the Match award for his half-century. The 34-year-old top-scored in the match with his knock of 50 runs off 34 balls with the help of 6 fours and a six.
Kohli’s knock helped RCB get a good start on a pitch that wasn’t as easy to bat on as a usual Chinnaswamy surface and had help for the bowlers. RCB posted 174, in the reply of which DC managed 151. The Delhi Capitals (DC) suffered their 5th defeat in a row out of 5 matches as the RCB emerged victorious by 23 runs at the M Chinnaswamy stadium to bounce back after two consecutive losses.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Virat Kohli said: ” I was quite disappointed that I got out to a full toss. I’ve been playing really well. I wanted to make sure that after fifty, I was targetting 30-35 runs off the next 10 balls. That’s how I play. That would’ve helped us get past 200. One thing I mentioned to the guys in the change room that 175 was enough on this pitch. It slowed down considerably when the spinners came on. Even the balls to hit off the back foot off Kuldeep were holding up, unlike the other games we played.
“We did well to get to that score and had the belief it was enough. When I’ve played my best cricket, those are the balls I’ve put away consistently (length balls on the up). That helps me to put pressure on the bowlers. When I put away their best balls, they’re going to try to do something else. I back myself to hit good balls and the best bowlers in the opposition. That’s how I motivate myself to play out there. Very happy to get two points. We kind of let it slip away last two games. For us to bounce back like this was very crucial. That was a different mentality and phase altogether (T20 World Cup 2016 semis). I was in a space where I felt I could hit any ball. I back myself to hit good shots. When they come off they look good.”
