IPL 2021: Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore will face-off Mumbai Indians on Friday in the IPL. Ahead of the IPL opener, Virat Kohli has said that he feels ‘No Home advantage’ this season is actually a good thing. He also feels confident going in to the match with - what he believes - a better RCB squad this year.
In a virtual press conference, Kohli said: "The good thing is that we are back in India. And one more positive about this edition, like last year, is that there is no home advantage. Every team is playing in neutral venues and the strength of your squad really comes to the fore. That's precisely why last IPL was so competitive - until about the last three-four games everyone was in the reckoning to qualify, which I think is great for the tournament. The viewership was through the roof, which I expect to be the case this time around as well.
"Having done well last year in such a competitive scenario and space, we're very confident that as a side, with a stronger squad this time around, we'll have another great season. Just playing in set venues with four teams, I think that's going to nullify all the home advantage that every team used to have."
Even though he advocated playing at neutral venues, he reiterated his love for playing in front of the loud Bengaluru crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. "There's nothing quite like playing in Chinnaswamy in front of your home crowd," Kohli said.
Last season, in 2020, RCB finished fourth in the league table and qualified for the play-offs. Unfortunately, for Kohli they lost the eliminator match against Sunrisers Hyderabad. On last year’s performance, Kohli said, “We had a good season last time around, probably would have liked to go a couple of steps further, which we obviously aim to do as a side this year.”
With AB de Villiers, Maxwell and other big players waiting to go in and perform, will Virat Kohli’s RCB be able to turn the tide against the mighty Mumbai Indians?