IPL 2019: Dropped Catches Hurting RCB, Says Ashish Nehra

Royal Challengers Bangalore put up a comedy of errors with their fielding efforts in the final few overs of their IPL 2019 match against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Tuesday. With only 158 to defend, RCB fielders dropped several catches as RR ambled to the target to win by 7 wickets. RCB bowling coach Ashish Nehra pointed to those dropped catches as the reason why the match went out of RCB's grasp. "When the game was close and Chahal was bowling, we dropped a catch. Virat Kohli dropped a catch and in the end Moeen Ali also dropped a catch. But still it became a close game. If we hadn't dropped those catches, things would have been different," he said.

"In the last two games, we have been dropping a lot of catches. In this format, if you drop two, three catches, that makes a big difference," Nehra told reporters after the match.

"You have to take your catches because the margin of error is less and the line between win or loss is thin. You need to be on top of your game," the former India pacer added.

Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith and Rahul Tripathi prospered for RR because of RCB's dropped catches. Speaking after the match, RCB captain Virat Kohli said dew played a part in making fielding difficult in the second innings.

Tuesday's defeat was RCB's fourth consecutive loss in the tournament. They are yet to open their account this season and have just 10 games in hand to turn things around.

Speaking about how RCB are approaching the remainder of their matches, Nehra said, "If you keep winning small moments, then only will you win matches. The only problem for us is that we are running out of time as there are only 14 games."

(With PTI inputs)