RCB's Kohli looks to play natural game with Gayle and De Villiers

With more depth in the batting department as compared to the last Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli believes it will allow himself, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers to play their natural game

With more depth in the batting department as compared to the last Indian Premier League (IPL), Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli believes it will allow himself, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers to play their natural game.

Virat Kohli (right) unveils the RCB jersey with Huawei’s head Allen Wang

RCB strengthened their batting unit by snapping Dinesh Karthik, Darren Sammy and S Badrinath during the auction last year.

“This season is pretty different for us because for the last three to four years myself, Chris and AB have played under a lot of pressure because the batting revolved around the three of us.

“We had to be cautious and at the same time look to score runs which sort of put us under pressure at times, but this time we have got Dinesh Karthik, Sammy, Badrinath and youngsters like Mandeep Singh coming into the side.

“It is a very strong batting unit and we have got good depth with great mixture of Indian youngsters. This season the three of us can play the way we always wanted to play in T20 cricket like you saw AB playing the way he did in the World Cup,” Kohli told reporters yesterday after unveiling the RCB jersey for the IPL-8.

Kohli hopes his star-studded team would be able to earn him his maiden IPL title. “We have played the semi-finals twice, played the final once, played the Champions League final once and it is time that we cross that hurdle,” said Kohli.

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