Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli was not happy with the result and neither with the performance that their team had put up against Chennai Super Kings on Friday night. After dominating the first half of the innings with the bat, the Kohli-led RCB let the game slip away from their hands although they had a brilliant platform set with 111 runs on the board in mere 13 overs and without losing a wicket.
Even though when the ball became old, scoring runs thereafter was a big challenge, but RCB managed 55 runs in the final 7 overs and lost 6 wickets. In the post match conference, Virat Kohli said that the team was 20 runs short and didn’t bowl consistently. He added that this defeat is more disappointing than the one on September 20 against KKR as they were not in the match on that day (Monday).
Giving a game away when we could have won, should hurt everyone: Kohli
After the match, RCB shared a video of the match day, where Virat Kohli and head coach Mike Hesson were seen addressing the team. The duo did not look happy with the performance. Virat said the team gave the match away when it could have created pressure and won.
“Giving a game away when we knew we could have put them under pressure and won this one, it should hurt everyone,” a disappointed Kohli said.
The skipper wanted the team to understand the worth of the game it had let go and wants to learn from it and improve the next time. Kohli said, “If you are looking to win this tournament and go all the way, it should hurt the guys that gave away a great opportunity, which is acceptable as long as we are willing to learn from it and be hungry to improve. That’s all I ask for”.
Mike Hesson also stated that the team should have scored 15-20 more and it was not easy to bat with the old ball. He acknowledged the batting platform was set brilliantly by the openers and the rest of the batters should have finished it in a better way. He also added that the team should have bowled back of a length inside the powerplay and not the fuller ones to restrict the opponent on a high-scoring pitch like Sharjah.
Watch the video here:
With RCB sitting at the third place in the points table with 10 points from 5 wins, they will look to bring back their game from the first phase to confirm their berth in the playoffs. They will next face defending champions Mumbai Indians on Sunday, 26 September in the second match of the double header.