'It was a special knock,' Virat Kohli hails 'superhuman' AB de Villiers after RCB beat KKR by 82 runs

Virat Kohli heaped praise on his Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) teammate AB de Villiers, calling the former South African "superhuman" after their massive 82-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on Monday.

After winning the toss, Kohli opted to bat first in Sharjah. Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch led RCB to a decent start. But, at the end of the Powerplay overs, RCB had less than 50 runs on the board. KKR's Andre Russell drew first blood as he dismissed Padikkal, leaving RCB at 67 for 1. Five overs later, Prasidh Krishna sent the other opener, Finch, back to the pavilion for 37-ball 47. From there on began Kohli and de Villiers' partnership that remained unbeaten at the end of the 20 overs.

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The two put up 100 runs for the third wicket in 7.4 overs. Kohli scored 33 from 28 balls, including a four. It was de Villiers, who took the innings by storm with his game. The 36-year-old explosive batsman, who was the eventual Player of the Match, struck six sixes and five fours during his knock of 33-ball 73, which de Villiers played at a strike-rate of over 220.

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During the post-match presentation, talking about de Villiers' "genius" performance, Kohli said," At the toss, the pitch didn't have the usual Sharjah sheen. We knew the wicket was going to get slower and slower. Barring one super-human, everyone struggled on that pitch. The talk was to get around 165-170. The preparation was really good and the three-week camp helped us. We now have clarity of plans as we know exactly what we want to do on the field. It all depends on the mindset. It's very positive. If your bowling unit is strong, you have a great chance of going deep in the tournament.

It was unbelievable. I thought I had a few balls under my belt so I'll start striking. But he came in and hit his third ball nicely. On a pitch like that, only AB can do that. It was a special knock. We got 195 purely because of the genius of that man. Always things you can reflect on and say you can improve on these things. All about taking this momentum forward. Don't want to be complacent."

With the overall performance of RCB on Monday, Kohli said he was very happy.

"They've played good cricket in this IPL. Coming here, it was important to get the right start. Great to see individuals step up when the team requires. The Bowling unit, with Morris coming in, looks all the more potent. Very happy," added Kohli.

With five wins in seven matches, RCB are currently placed third in the IPL 2020 points table. They have the same points (10) as Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC), who are in the first and second place respectively because of a superior net run-rate.

Kohli's RCB next take on Kings XI Punjab at the same venue in Sharjah on Thursday, while KKR travel next to Abu Dhabi to face MI on Friday.