Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli is “excited” to witness the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) coming back to the country. The 13th edition of the tournament took place in UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kohli is optimistic of RCB turning things around this year in the league as the teams battle it out in different “settings”.

Talking about the same in a video posted by RCB, Virat Kohli was heard saying, “It feels surreal. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like we went away for too long as there was a lot of cricket in between as well but yeah, very excited that we are playing in India again. Although in a different way, in a different setting. I am very optimistic and yes I have a good feeling this time around.”

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RCB batsman AB de Villiers reckons that he can still sense the momentum which the franchise gained in the 13th edition of the IPL in UAE. RCB is set to play the IPL 2021 opener against Mumbai Indians (MI) on April 9 in Chennai and de Villiers feels the side can carry on the winning momentum from last year’s tournament.

Elaborating the same, AB de Villiers said, “It was a long journey. Very happy to be back with RCB, it feels like yesterday that we finished the IPL. I feel we have the momentum from the last tournament and we’ll have a lot of fun. There are some new names but also old names, the people I have known for ages. Dan (Christian) has been with RCB before, it’s Maxi’s (Maxwell) first time but we all have seen him so often in the IPL, hopefully, a lot of games for us to win together.”

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Both Kohli and de Villiers joined the team bubble in Chennai on Thursday. As per BCCI’s SOPs for IPL 2021, all players (except for those from the India-England series), support staff, and management required to undergo a seven-day quarantine in their hotel rooms before entering the bubble.