‘Kohli would be under immense pressure if RCB don’t lift the title’

Indian skipper Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore is one of the teams that is yet to win an Indian Premier League (IPL) title. After losing the final in 2016, the team had struggled to make it to the playoffs in following seasons until last year when they finished fourth in league stage. Nevertheless, RCB was knocked out from the tourney after they lost the cliffhanging eliminator.

Later, in the 14th edition, RCB kicked off the tournament in style. The unit looked entirely different in terms of performance, unlike the previous editions. Prior to the cancellation of the league due to a Covid outbreak in its bio-bubble, Kohli’s red-brigade had won 5 out 7 games and are now comfortably placed at third position on the points table.

Meanwhile, as the second phase of IPL 2021 is a few days away, Kohli and his team would look to start afresh and aim for their maiden title. Nonetheless, Gautam Gambhir, former Kolkata Knight Riders captain, believes that RCB has several big-ticket players who can dominate the opposition.

“He’s (Virat) got people like AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell, which is a huge cushion to have. Even if it’s not Maxwell, AB is a massive cushion because there is only one person who can take on someone like Jasprit Bumrah and it was AB de Villiers. I have not seen anyone else who has done that consistently against Bumrah, but AB is a freak,” Gambhir— who will be a part of Hindi commentary panel for the UAE leg of IPL 2021— said in a conversation with Star Sports network.

Former KKR skipper further highlighted the amount pressure on Kohli and De Villiers as they will definitely eye to grab their first league title.

“But yes obviously, from Virat’s standard they would want to go out and dominate the opposition, especially in the IPL. There’s international cricket where you’ve got 5 or 6 top international bowlers, you don’t have that in the IPL.

“You probably get 2 or 3 international bowlers and then you’ve got domestic bowlers as well, whom you could dominate. So, probably there’s a lot of pressure on Virat and AB as well, which could be one of the reasons and year after year, if you don’t win that title the pressure keeps on increasing as well,” Gambhir added.