IPL 2021: Virat Kohli Explains Why Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers Bat Below Rajat Patidar

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli defended their decision to hold back Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers below Rajat Patidar in the batting order, saying Patidar was a quality batsman. Both Patidar and Kohli struggled to get going at the top in the 180-run chase against Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad on Friday, with Kohli managing 35 off 34 and Patidar 31 (30) after being 19 off 25 at one stage.

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Patidar came in in the third over with the score 19-1, and RCB managed only 36 for 1 in the Power Play.

“The composition of our team is such that someone like Rajat, if you see the last game, controlled the game for us. We give him that freedom and sometimes it doesn’t work out. Maxi and AB at 4 and 5 has worked well for us, when there’s a partnership early, you will see one of them will come early. It’s situational. Didn’t work today but Rajat’s a quality player,” Kohli explained in the post-match presentation.

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Kohli said they couldn’t get any momentum with the bat.

“With the bat we never got the momentum, they bowled well to be honest, hit the right areas. Just kept the pressure going. But as batsmen as well we could have tried more things at the start. It was tough to hit through the line. It was about making a partnership and making sure you’re there to keep getting the boundaries, bat at a strike rate of at least 110. We didn’t manage to do that. We understand the areas where we lost momentum.”

Kohli also rued that PBKS reached 179 after being 118 for 5 at one stage.

“They got off to a decent start and we pulled things back decently. Probably gave away 25 too much at the end, should have been chasing 160. There was only one batsman in KL Rahul in the middle with bowlers to follow. Had a chat around executing our plans, which we did, but at the end we focused too much on what the batters were doing. We got away from our plans.

“A bit of a positive at the end, pulled things back nicely. Harshal (Patel) and Jamo (Kyle Jamieson) struck a few at the end. A loss off 60-65 would’ve hurt more.”

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• AB de Villiers
• Glenn Maxwell
• pbks vs rcb
• Rajat Patidar
• RCB
• Virat Kohli