IPL 2021: My role as opener will bring 'more balance' in RCB, says Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli said that his role as the opener will give Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) a little more balance ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 opener on Friday.

The first fixture of the 14th edition of the IPL is set to be between RCB and reigning champions Mumbai Indians (MI) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.

After the conclusion of the recent Twenty20 International (T20I) series between India and England, Kohli had hinted that he would open for his franchise. He said that after scoring a match-winning 80 not out while opening the innings in the final game of the three-match T20I series.

"I had spoken to Mike (Hesson) and Simon (Katich) last year that I would like to open in IPL 2021 and I would go into that headspace, luckily things happened in a way that I got to open in the last game against England and I ended up getting a good score which gave me the confidence to step into this role so I can probably do it again," Kohli said in a video posted by RCB on their official Twitter handle.

"That experience was very important heading into this IPL, knowing I am sorted with my game at the top of the order, and then now let's create that balance in the team. My batting and those things are taken care of," the RCB captain added.

The decision to open in the IPL 2021 could turn out to be great for RCB because Kohli has tasted the most success in the tournament as an opener. In 61 matches he has opened for RCB in the T20 league, he has scored 2,345 runs at an average of 47.86 at a strike rate of 140.2 - which is the best when compared to any other position he has batted at. Moreover, all of Kohli's five IPL centuries have come when he has opened the innings for RCB.

Ahead of the limited-overs leg against England earlier this year, Kohli was not at his best form. Even in the first T20I, Kohli got out for naught. Speaking about that, Kohli has revealed that he had a chat with his RCB teammate and good friend AB de Villiers and that helped him improve his form. The Indian skipper then went on to register five 50-plus scores in the next five limited-overs games. In fact, Kohli finished with the most runs in the five-match T20I series – 231 runs in five innings at 115.50 and strike-rate of 147.13.

Talking about the same, Kohli said, "It's amazing when you have played for so long, you can go into a zone where you feel like you cannot even score a run. There is such a lack of clarity in your mind and there are too much thoughts going around. It is all external factors you are thinking of and that is creating more confusion.

So I thought I will take another point of view because I have seen ABD play, every innings he has got the same intensity and passion. He is never addicted to getting scores and he is always thinking about the team situation. I asked him when in doubt, what do you do? The simplest of the advice one can get and he said just watch the ball."

In the last 13 years, RCB have reached the IPL final thrice but have failed to win the trophy.

"We have reached the final thrice, we have reached the finals of the Champions League which used to happen once. We played four finals, we played two or three semifinals as well. Just the fact that we have not finished the job in the IPL, we are one of the most loved teams across the tournaments. Me as an individual I never felt like move away from this system just because I haven't won the title and that happens because things have been so organic," added Kohli ahead of RCB's first IPL 2021 game on Friday.