IPL 2017: Virat Kohli's preparations before a match

IPL 2017: Virat Kohli's preparations before a match
Virat says that he always try to keep things simple.

On Saturday, on the eve of the dead-rubber against Delhi Daredevils, the Royals Challengers Bangalore skipper, Virat Kohli was the first to step out of the team bus when it arrived at the Ferozeshah Kotla. Within 15 minutes, the whole team was out along with Kohli to play a round of football to warm up.

When asked about his yoga routine by TOI, Kohli replied, "I do yoga when I am at home. Otherwise, stretching and strengthening exercises are a must for me."

RCB didn’t leave any stone unturned during the practice sessions, with Kohli taking most of the initiative. During the net sessions, it seems that they are the champion team of the tournament.

Earlier this year, Kohli was named as the captain of the Indian team in all the three formats of the game. In the ongoing season of IPL, it was the first time that he has faced a crisis for the first time as a captain in the IPL.  Talking about the same, Virat said, "I am not trying anything extra. Just want to keep things simple.”

It has always been seen that Virat has shown some intensity in net sessions. He took just one break I  in between his hour long batting session, just to gulp some water. Also, during the IPL, he didn’t talk about India’s preparations Champions Trophy. However, Kohli was confident enough that 10-match losing streak with the Bangalore team didn't affect his morale as the leader.

As a batsman, Virat managed to score just 250 runs in the 9 matches, with 64 being his highest score. However, some other Indian batsmen have fared no better -Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, and MS Dhoni also have struggled. India openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are the only two Indian batsmen ahead of Kohli in the run-scorers.

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Dhawan, Henriques keep Hyderabad's playoff hopes alive

The duo guided Hyderabad to seventh win off 13 matches, which put them fourth in the points table 

Shikhar Dhawan and Moises Henriques added 91 runs for the second wicke

Chasing just 139, Hyderabad needed just 6.90 an over from the onset to overturn league leaders, Mumbai. Moises Henriques and Shikhar Dhawan, with a 91-run stand for the second wicket, provided just the platform they required to register a comfortable seven wicket win against Mumbai at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Monday.

Rohit Sharma, Mumbai's captain, won the toss and opted to bat first. But his ploy backfired as his batsmen struggled to find their feet on a sluggish surface. Sharma was the only Mumbai batsman that found form and thumped a 45-ball 67. Cameos from Parthiv Patel and Hardik Pandya helped in pushing the tourists to 138. Mumbai needed wickets to stay alive and David Warner's departure in the second over of the chase gave them hope, but that was short lived as Henriques and Dhawan took charge.

Dhawan thumped the first four in the third over, before Henriques took charge and clubbed Jasprit Bumrah for two more in the fifth. Mumbai conceded the early advantage through poor bowling and the Henriques-Dhawan combine capitalized. Dhawan was particularly unforgiving off legspinner Karn Sharma, and lofted him for two sixes. Henriques finally fell in the 13th over for a 35-ball 44 that included six fours. Hyderabad was still 41-runs adrift at that stage. Dhawan refused to budge and guided the defending champions home with 10 balls remaining. Dhawan remained unbeaten on 62 off 46. The counter-attacking display kept Hyderabad's playoff chances alive.

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