Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian skipper, reckons that RCB skipper Virat Kohli didn’t quite live up to the standards he has set over the years as he scored only six runs opening as RCB failed to defend 131 in Eliminator against SRH.
On Friday, Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were eliminated from the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) after SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated them by six wickets in the Eliminator at Abu Dhabi with Kane Williamson contributing with an unbeaten 50 for SRH.
Sunil Gavaskar: Virat Kohli Didn’t Match His High Standards
Sunil Gavaskar said that RCB weren’t able to get the required big scores as Virat Kohli, who has been a prolific run-scorer for them and the leading run-scorer in IPL, didn’t fire as expected.
“Looking at the high standards that he sets for himself, maybe he would say he didn’t quite match that and that’s one of the reasons why RCB weren’t able to go through. Because when he scores those big runs along with AB de Villiers, they invariably have big scores,” Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports.
From the personal front, Virat Kohli was the second-highest run-scorer for his team in the tournament with 466 runs at an average of 42.36 after Devdutt Padikkal who scored 473 runs. In the last game, he also opened the batting but was caught down the leg-side, cheaply, off the bowling of SRH’s Jason Holder.
Sunil Gavaskar: Bowling Of RCB Always Weak Point
Sunil Gavaskar said that RCB have always been a strong batting unit with their bowlers mostly faltering at the big stage to perform. The veteran also asked the team to assign a proper role to all-rounder Shivam Dube, who he reckons, is ‘confused’ about his position in the side. He has picked 4 wickets and scored 129 runs in 11 matches.
“If anything, their bowling has always been their weak point. Even now, in this particular team, they have got an Aaron Finch, who is a fine T20 player, young Devdutt Padikkal, who began well and then Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, then you have really got it made,” he stated.
“I think where they need to do a little bit of thinking is to give Shivam Dube a proper role. Dube has gone down and Sundar has gone up and down. If he can be given a role and told to go out there and thrash the ball, it might help him. He is confused now,” Gavaskar added.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore started their campaign, beating SRH in Dubai. From there on, they struggled a bit, but finished fourth in the table and somehow made the playoffs with 7 wins and as many losses. To their dismay, they have to wait for 2021 to try and lay their hands at the coveted IPL trophy.