Virat Kohli of Royal Challengers Bengaluru reacts the match vs Kolkata Knight Riders in Raipur, India, on May 13, 2026. (CREIMAS)Royal Challengers Bengaluru icon Virat Kohli came into the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday on the back of back to back ducks in the encounters with Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians. With the pressure building, Kohli went off the mark with a single against KKR at Raipur and pulled off a little celebration.“Well, there’s a reason why people say pressure is a privilege. It actually keeps you humble, keeps you focused, makes you work hard at practice again. You can’t take things for granted. Butterflies in the stomach, good pressure always helps you to improve your game. So I was in the nets working harder. Training harder, you tend to, when you’re playing well, you can tend to kind of taper off a little bit with your intensity and focus. But I think a couple of games that don’t go your way, you start feeling a bit of nervousness again. It helps you to go out there and work on your game and back yourself even more, which takes a lot of effort out of you,” Kohli said talking about pressure coming into the match on the back of consecutive ducks.“But then I think you go a level up as a player and then you keep improving your game little by little. And at the end of the day, when you look back, those failures are so important because they put you back into the place that gets you the performances in the first place and it doesn’t let you go off your intense best. So I think that’s why people say pressure is a privilege. And of course, I was nervous. I just wanted to get off the mark and just celebrate and have a bit of fun there,” he added.Celebrate every run like Virat Kohli Updates ▶️ https://t.co/X27WecYjiZ#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #RCBvKKR | @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/r23XtyBdNV— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 13, 2026He also opened up about his 9th IPL century, saying the most important thing from the match was those 2 points. “Well, the celebration wasn’t a big one because we know the importance of the points right now. And yeah, look, for me, it’s a conscious effort to try and contribute to the team’s scores. And I know if I bat for long enough in the game, our chances of winning become higher. So the fact that I didn’t get many runs in the last two games was, it eats me up in a way that I know I can play well and I’m hitting the ball well,” he said.“But then when you don’t carry on and you know, you haven’t created the impact for the team, it bothers you because that’s basically been the goal all these years, trying to improve so that you can be the best version for your team when you play out there and make an impact. So, yeah, century or no century, I think the more important thing is finishing the game, making sure that I was out there till the end to get those two points, which again, puts us at the top of the table,” Kohli added.Also Read | Virat Kohli slams 9th IPL century in match vs KKR, most by any playerOn Wednesday, Kohli once again etched his name in the history books, becoming the first Indian batter to complete 14,000 runs in T20 cricket. The RCB stalwart needed 78 runs to achieve the milestone and got there during the second innings of the 193-run chase against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur.The former RCB skipper also became the fastest batter to the landmark, reaching 14,000 T20 runs in just 409 innings, surpassing Chris Gayle, who had achieved the feat in 423 innings.“Well, I just love batting, even after all this. You know, that’s my core feeling. Look, what an honour to be playing at this level. What an honour to be competing with the very best in the world still. This is all I’ve done all my life. Cricket is absolutely something that I truly love. And I just give my heart and soul out there on the field, whether I’m fielding or batting, because it’s going to finish one day. And I want to make the most of every day that I’m on the field and just enjoy myself and have a lot of fun and look forward to a pressure situation, look forward to scenarios where I’m feeling a bit of heat. And then I challenge myself to say, you know what, just go for it. And when you cross the line, it makes you a better player. And sport, as you know, teaches you a lot as a person as well. So you build your character slowly and surely when you keep performing under pressure. And for me, even after all these years and numbers and whatever you said, it’s still the love for the game. I just love hitting the ball in the middle of the bat. And that joy is still there,” he said, talking about the records he broke.Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd