Falling short of words in explaining the stunning batting collapse his side suffered, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli could only say that it was reckless and unacceptable batting.
RCB was all out for 49, the lowest ever total recorded in IPL, and lost the match by a comprehensive 82-run margin while chasing 132.
“This our worst batting performance, it really hurts. After the kind of half that we had, we thought we could capitalise and chase it down. It was reckless batting. I can’t say anything at the moment. It was that bad. This is just not acceptable,” a visibly upset Kohli said after the match.
Kohli himself was guilty of playing an irresponsible shot as he chased a widish delivery only to offer a catch to a slip fielder.
“The sight-screen is very small here, one guy got up as the bowler was loading up, that distracted me. Still it wasn’t a big deal. That was just one down. Nine guys could have done the job,” Kohli said when quizzed about his dismissal.
The India captain said his side had “nothing to review anything about the second half” of the match.
“We need to forget it and move forward. We are a much better team. We got 200 plus in the last game. I’m sure everyone realises what they’ve done wrong. You have to come out, show intent and back yourselves. I’m sure we won’t bat like that again in the tournament,” he said.
Winning captain Gautam Gambhir was all praise for his fast bowlers .
“It’s very refreshing. All credit to the bowling attack, especially Coulter-Nile and Umesh for bowling quick. Not a lot of teams have pace like we have. Got three guys who can bowl over 140. The plan was to hit the deck hard and the plan worked,” Gambhir said.
The KKR skipper though was not happy with his team’s batting show.
“We didn’t bat well at all. After where we were in the first six, we should’ve got 170. We need to pull up our socks in the batting department. If you want to win the tournament, you need to bring your A game out in all departments,” said Gambhir.
He also said that it was a conscious decision to pack the attack with pacers.
“It was moving around, so I thought there was no point in using spin. The bowling department was very professional, I’ve not seen as impressive an effort from the bowling attack like I did today. The plan to the bowlers was simple ‘ just use your pace and show to the world what you’ve got.’ A lot of opponents think we’re a chasing side. So if we win batting first, it gives us a lot of confidence.”
Nathan Coulter-Nile was declared the Player of the Match for a great opening spell.
“I guess you have to come out steaming when you’re just defending 130 odd. I just had a feeling we were going to do tonight. I haven’t been bowling too much, I was so pumped up.
“I wasn’t thinking too much about the no-balls. I thought if I can try to push the batsmen back and then pitch it up and swing, I could get wickets. We’ve got some world class spinners who didn’t even get a ball today. The pitch suited us,” the Australian said.
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