"He batted like a millionaire" - Aakash Chopra lauds Virat Kohli's knock in RCB's IPL 2023 loss to KKR

Aakash Chopra has lauded Virat Kohli for playing a fighting knock in the Royals Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) IPL 2023 loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Nitish Rana and Co. set the home team a 201-run target after being asked to bat first in Bengaluru on Wednesday, April 26. Kohli then scored a 37-ball 54 but couldn't take his team across the line as KKR won the match by 21 runs.

While reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra pointed out that Virat Kohli was almost like a lone warrior in RCB's chase, stating:

"Virat Kohli - a special mention. He batted like a millionaire. It's like the vintage Virat. He might not have hit a six but he was batting extremely beautifully. When he was batting, it looked like the man was on a mission and would win the match alone but 200 runs are not scored alone."

The former Indian opener added that the other RCB top-order batters were strangled with spin, elaborating:

"Spin was brought into the game. Faf du Plessis got out early and then Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) got out. Shahbaz Ahmed was also trapped. They were absolutely choked in the powerplay with a lot of spin, very little fast bowling, because this team's fast bowling has not been that good."

Rana introduced spin in the third over after Vaibhav Arora and Umesh Yadav were taken to the cleaners in the first two overs. The move paid dividends as Suyash Sharma dismissed Faf du Plessis and Shahbaz Ahmed before Varun Chakaravarthy got rid of Glenn Maxwell to give KKR the ascendancy by the end of the powerplay.

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"It's too much reliance on KGF" - Aakash Chopra on RCB's overdependence on Kohli, Maxwell and Du Plessis

Mahipal Lomror was the only RCB batter apart from Kohli to reach the 30-run mark. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra highlighted that RCB were virtually out of the game once Kohli was dismissed, explaining:

"When Virat got out, wickets fell one after the after. They have only three pillars - Faf, Maxi and Kohli. Their team crashes when two out of the three get out. That was seen once again in the batting. It's too much reliance on KGF."

Speaking about KKR's innings, the cricketer-turned-commentator praised Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana for taking their side to a defendable total, elaborating:

"Jason Roy - he started from where he had left, this time with no pain at all, sixes one after the other. When both Roy and N Jagadeesan got out, it seemed the innings might stumble, but Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana batted very well. You were looking for 200 runs and you got that."

Jason Roy top-scored for KKR with a 29-ball 56. Rana (48 off 21) and Iyer (31 off 26) added 80 runs for the third wicket after the KKR openers, Narayan Jagadeesan and Roy, were dismissed in quick succession.