"A real sense of camaraderie there" - Tom Moody on Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis opening stand in RCB vs MI match 

Tom Moody feels that batting alongside Faf du Plessis helped Virat Kohli significantly in Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) opening fixture against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday, April 2.

He reckoned that du Plessis playing his shots right from the start took a lot of pressure off Kohli. Here's what the cricketer-turned-commentator said about the two RCB openers during a discussion on ESPNcricinfo:

"There was a real sense of camaraderie there, friendship and comfort and mutual respect. That certainly takes the pressure off any situation where you're having to cover for someone else."

"It also helps when you've got someone like Faf who is playing with that sort of freedom; you nearly sort of draw on that energy yourself, particularly when you've spent the last couple of years a little bit uncertain with your game and lost a little bit of rhythm," he added.

While chasing a target of 172, Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli stitched together a brilliant 148-run stand for the first wicket. While the RCB captain departed after scoring 73 runs, Kohli remained unbeaten on 82, taking his team to an eight-wicket win.

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"The break that he took really helped him to refocus and reignite the fire in him" - Deep Dasgupta on Virat Kohli roaring back to form

Virat Kohli had been under the scanner during the previous season of the IPL for his prolonged lean patch with the bat.

Former cricketer Deep Dasgupta believes that the senior batter's rut was because of the frame of mind he was in. During the same discussion, Dasgupta indicated that Kohli has benefited a lot from taking some time off from the game, elaborating:

"The way he [Virat Kohli] has been batting in the last six-odd months across three formats. He has been absolutely brilliant since the Asia Cup. He was always batting well. It just occurred to me that in the last couple of years, there was nothing to do technically or cricket-wise.

"I thought he wasn't in the right mind space, whatever was going on in his head. I think the break that he took really helped him to refocus and reignite the fire in him."

Virat Kohli will next be seen in action when RCB take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, April 6.