Virat Kohli, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper on Saturday said losing to Chennai Super Kings by 6 wickets at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium should hurt the team as they gave away a great opportunity to win the game and put MS Dhoni’s team under pressure.
Coach Mike Hesson and captain Virat Kohli addressed the team after a tough loss against CSK, and identified areas to improve ahead of the all-important fixture against MI on Sunday.
Virat Kohli: RCB Squandered A Great Opportunity To Win Against CSK
RCB was in a very good position against CSK. But they failed to drive home the advantage despite a 111-run opening stand between captain Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal after being asked to bat first by MS Dhoni.
“Giving a game away when we knew, could have really put them under pressure, and won this one. It should hurt everyone when looking to win this tournament and go all the way. It should hurt guys that we gave away a great opportunity, which is acceptable as long as we are willing to learn from it,” skipper Virat Kohli said in a video post on RCB Twitter.
Coach Hesson said: “170 would have been a good score, everybody saw it got harder and harder to bat, the pitch was always going to be tough to start. 6/66 in the last 10, we would have wanted 10-15 more than that. You would have certainly wanted a few more runs.”
Both the RCB openers Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal struck spectacular fifties but CSK came back later in the game to restrict them to 156 for six. RCB managed only 45 runs in the remaining 6.4 overs after being in a position of strength from where they could have pushed for a score in the vicinity of 200.
Virat Kohli: 175 Would Have Been A Winning Total
Dwayne Bravo’s bowling changed the course of the RCB innings as he conceded only 24 runs in his four overs besides picking the wickets of RCB all-rounders Glenn Maxwell (11) and Harshal Patel (3).
Earlier, speaking at the post-match presentation, Kohli said: “The wicket did slow down a bit. But I feel we left out 15-20 runs out there. 175 would’ve been a winning total. Didn’t bowl consistently. Didn’t show that much courage I guess with the ball.”
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ambati Rayudu played knocks of 38 and 32 respectively as CSK chased down the target of 157 with six wickets in hand. With this win, the MS Dhoni-led outfit went to the top of the table.
Earlier, Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli scored 70 and 53 respectively to help RCB post 156/6 in the allotted twenty overs. Both openers shared a stand of 111 runs for the first wicket, but Dwayne Bravo’s spell of 3-24 helped CSK restrict RCB under the 160-run mark.