No team has secured qualification to the next round in IPL 2026 even as two franchises, Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants, have been eliminated from the competition. Over the last couple of days, Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru have taken definitive steps towards claiming a berth in the knockouts while Kolkata Knight Riders’ chances have taken a beating. Virat Kohli’s ninth IPL ton was instrumental to the progress of the defending champions as two wins in Raipur rounded off their home fixtures.
“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,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation after bagging yet another Player of the Match award.
“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. 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.”
