VIrat-Kohli-Mike-Hesson-give-pep-talk

Picture Credit: Instagram/@RCBTweets

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were thrashed by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the second match of the second half of IPL. KKR bowled RCB out for just 92 and then chased down the total inside 10 overs, courtesy Shubman Gill and debutant Venkatesh Iyer's impressive opening partnership. With the ball, Andre Russell and spinner Varun Chakravarthy were the pick of the bowlers with three wickets each.

After their loss on Monday, RCB Head Coach Mike Hesson and skipper Virat Kohli addressed the team after the match. Hesson opined that Virat Kohli’s decision to step down as RCB’s skipper had nothing to do with the team’s nine-wicket loss against KKR.

Hesson further said, "I think it was important to get any form of distraction out of the way early and we spoke about making that announcement as soon as possible so all players were aware of it. It certainly hasn't had an impact on tonight's performance."

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli urged his troops to bounce back in next game. He mentioned that the RCB squad needs to quickly move on from Monday's defeat and put their focus ahead. In the video shared by RCB on Twitter, Kohli said to his teammates, "We are better off accepting it immediately and being at peace with it. Not meaning that we don't look forward to the next one but, it should give us more hunger to get on to the field again. And play the cricket that we have already played in this tournament."

"It's about accepting that this kind of a game will happen at some stage. There is no reason why we should react differently to losses. We have to stay pretty balanced as a team if we have to go all the way."

Watch the video here:

RCB will now lock horns with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) next in Sharjah on September 24.