Young Indian batsman Virat Kohli had more than one reason to be delighted after his team Royal Challengers Bangalore's triumph over Pune Warriors as the right-hander didn't just produce a match-wining knock, he also overtook Sachin Tendulkar as the leading run-scorer of the ongoing IPL.
Kohli was handed the Orange Cap for topping the batting aggregate with 291 runs, 24 ahead of batting maestro Tendulkar who plays for the Mumbai Indians.
"I had been keen to bat up the order in the last three IPLs. But I could get to bat only at five, six or seven. This time I got the chance to bat at three and I am happy that I have been able to score runs and contribute to the good showing of the team," said Kohli, who also completed 1000 IPL runs during the course of his breezy 67.
"I am happy to don the orange cap. I would like to hold on to it for a while, but the competition is very tough as there are five quality batsmen who are there in the top five among runs. Let me see how long I can hold on to it," added a beaming Kohli after RCB's 26-run win over Pune Warriors on Friday.
Pune captain Yuvraj Singh, on the other hand, rued that his team conceded 20 runs too many during RCB's innings.
"I think we gave 20 runs in excess and couldn't score rapidly when we batted," said Yuvraj after his team's fifth consecutive defeat in the IPL.
The beleaguered Warriors' skipper felt that the road to the play-offs would get tougher from here on.
"It is really tough from now on. We have to win six out of six to have a chance. We will give our best. I wished I should have lost the toss today. I have won the toss five times and we have lost those matches. I don't know what to say," he said.
Yuvraj also felt that batting effort wasn't good enough against RCB.
"It was a gettable target because it was a good batting wicket. In the first six overs, we didn't lose many wickets but the Manish-Jesse partnership didn't yield many runs. If the runs had come at that time, me and Robin could have finished off things. We will look at ourselves on where to improve on."
Did he make a mistake in not batting up the order?
"We didn't lose early wickets and the batsmen upfront have to go at the bowling. Batting at four and five is the mainstay of the team. I feel today, we should have come up the order," replied Yuvraj.
"Unfortunately, that partnership couldn't get enough runs. It wasn't that Manish was trying to hit and he couldn't hit, Jesse was trying to increase the run-rate. At that stage we needed a few good overs and they bowled really well. Unfortunately, we couldn't cash in on that."
