With hours to go for the beginning of the much-awaited 2021 IPL season, Virat Kohli was seen motivating his side into believing that Royal Challengers Bangalore are capable of going the distance in the league despite not winning the title in its 13 years of history.
RCB will be facing defending champions Mumbai Indians in the season opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Friday evening.
In a video shared by RCB on their official Twitter handle, Kohli was seen giving a pep talk to all his teammates ahead of a training session in Chennai, urging them to 'play with intensity'.
"To all the new guys who have joined us, welcome to this amazing group," he was heard saying in the video. "As you know from the guys who have played here in the past, the atmosphere, the energy throughout the season will be amazing and the only thing I expect from you guys is to make the most of the time that we spend on the field whether it is a practice session, game drills it is needless to mention.
I expect the guys to play with intensity, that's the way we have always played and that won't change."
Kohli further recalled last year's success as the side reached the playoffs; saying team was heading in the right direction to achieve their goal.
"Last year was the great step in the right direction for us and I feel like our squad is even stronger this year and I expect good things to happen again. But a lot of enjoyment happened last year and the focus to make the most of the time we had especially in our practice sessions," he added.