Bangalore, Royal Challengers Bangalore Virat Kohli slammed his bowlers after losing to Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday night at Chinnaswamy Stadium and underlined that the team had to improve their bowling to turn things around.
The hosts failed to defend 66 runs off the final 24 balls as Andre Russell smashed an unbeaten 48 runs off just 13 balls to help KKR overhaul the 206-run target with five balls to spare.
‘If we bowl like that and don’t show composure in pressure moments, we deserve to be where we are in the table. No rocket science behind it. If we bowl with not enough bravery in the crunch moments then it’s always going to be difficult when you have power-hitters like Russell in the opposition,” said Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We have to perform better in the last four overs. We have not been able to perform in difficult situations, which has been the reason for our defeat in this entire edition,” Kohli added.
“I wasn’t really happy getting out at that moment, could’ve added 20-25 more. AB (de Villiers) didn’t get much strike in the end. I thought the runs were enough on the board, we didn’t have enough composure,” 31-year-old captain said.
Virat Kohli remained optimistic and said his team will come out with flying colours in the next match. “It’s been a disappointing season so far, but we are still optimistic about our chances. We just have to believe in ourselves that we can turn things around,” said the RCB captain.
Virat Kohli scored a fine 84 runs off 49 balls, overtaking Suresh Raina to become the top run-getter in the history of IPL but the RCB skipper lamented getting out with 17 balls still remaining in his team’s innings.