After losing by 21 runs to Kolkata Knight Riders at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on April 26, the stand-in captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Virat Kohli, criticized his colleagues, stating that their fielding wasn’t up to par and the middle order batters once again performed poorly. The 34-year-old also mentioned that two dropped catches ultimately gave the contest to the opposition.
Notably, KKR captain Nitish Rana was dismissed twice in the first innings before scoring 48 runs off of just 21 deliveries. Rana’s innings altered the complexion of the game just as the Knight Riders were struggling to get going, and Virat cited it as one of the reasons for their fourth loss in the current IPL 2023 season.
“We honestly surrendered the game to them. We earned our defeat. We were not sufficiently professional. We bowled well, but our fielding was subpar. This was a gift that was given to them. Two missed opportunities in the field cost us 25-30 runs. “When batting, we set ourselves up exceptionally well, but then suffered four or five soft dismissals,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation.
Virat Kohli evaluates the performance of RCB against KKR.
Even though Virat Kohli’s magnificent fifty set the tone for the match for RCB, they collapsed like a house of cards shortly after his dismissal. According to the legendary batter’s analysis of their performance, they were one partnership shy of winning the game. The 34-year-old also stated that batters cannot offer up easy outs and must assume greater responsibility.
“They were not wicket-taking deliveries, but we hit them directly to the fielders. Even after losing wickets while chasing, one partnership brought us back into the contest. We were missing one partnership. We must remain vigilant and avoid giving away soft plays. On the road, we have won one and lost one. It is not something that causes us anxiety. We must win some away games in order to be in excellent shape for the later stages of the tournament, said Virat.
With this loss, Bangalore remained in fifth place on the IPL Points Table, while Kolkata climbed to seventh.