IPL 2019 news: Virat Kohli believes 'enjoying the cricket' has been the key to RCB's turnaround

What's the story?

Royal Challengers Bangalore are suddenly back in the reckoning for an IPL 2019 playoff spot, and their skipper Virat Kohli is mighty pleased about that. Giving his thoughts about his RCB's dramatic comeback, Kohli believes all the team needed to do was enjoy their cricket.

The Background

Having signed several quality talents from overseas as well as the domestic circuit, the Royal Challengers seemed like one of the strongest teams on paper before the 12th season of the IPL kicked off. But while many expected the Virat Kohli-led team to dominate right from the word 'go', that was far from the case.

It was a disappointing first half for RCB to say the least. They lost all of their first six matches before registering the first win of the season against Kings XI Punjab at Mohali.

Though the defeat at the Wankhede Stadium against Mumbai Indians made things even worse, they bounced back strongly by winning the next three games (against Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab) in dramatic fashion.

In spite of languishing at the bottom of the points table, the three-time runners-up have an outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs. If they win their remaining three league fixtures and the other results go a certain way, they could still make it to the top four.

The heart of the matter

Captain Kohli has been at the center of all this turmoil, suffering the brunt of the criticism for the early-season struggles. Now that the team's fortunes seem to be on the upswing again, it is natural for him to feel vindicated.

After RCB's crucial 17-run victory over Ravichandran Ashwin's men at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday Kohli said, "The only focus was to play well as a team. Losing six in a row really hurt us. Literally no one in the team has been part of such a streak. So we just refreshed, thought about just enjoying ourselves and the important thing now is not to take on any pressure."

Evidently pleased with his team's massive turnaround in the second half, an elated Kohli added, "Yeah, we’ve won four of the five. Could have been five out of five. We were just looking to enjoy the cricket and tonight was a great example of having fun. We know how we play. The world knows how we play."

What's next?

RCB will travel to Delhi for Sunday's fixture against Delhi Capitals at the Feroz Shah Kotla before heading home for the last two fixtures against Rajsthan Royals (April 30) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (May 4). A determined Kohli will be looking to maintain the winning momentum in the next three games to seal an unlikely playoffs spot.