Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday suffered a humiliating nine-wicket defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders.
Batting first, the RCB were bowled out for just 94 with Kohli scoring just five runs. Devdutt Padikkal was the top scorer with a knock of 22 runs.
Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russel shared three wickets each with Lockie Ferguson scalping two wickets. Prasidh Kirshna took one wicket.
Kolkata Knight Riders took just 10 overs to chase the target by losing just one wicket. Shubman Gill, who was the only KKR batsman to be dismissed, made 48 in 34 balls. Venkatesh Iyer remained unbeaten at 41.
Reacting to his side’s crushing defeat, Kohli said, “It was important to get a good partnership. We didn’t expect that much dew to kick in that early. From 42 for 1, we lost 5 wickets for 20-odd. Bit of a wake-up call, might as well have this at the start of the second leg so that we know what we should work on. You can make the argument that we were rusty but as professionals you’re expected to turn up and adjust.
“Sometimes it can take you a game, I hope not two, to get into the tournament, you have to stay with the eight-ball, if you’re not, the other teams will be all over you. Pretty good from Varun, he’s going to be a key factor when he plays for India. It’s great guys who’ve got the opportunity to play at the international level. He’s someone who is going to play in the near future for India, it’s a great sign. We have five win from eight, we expect a loss here and there, it’s part and parcel, need to be professional, stick to our strengths and execute our plans. We have absolute confidence in our squad to pull up next game onwards and put in strong performances.”
KKR skipper Eoin Morgan said, “Very rarely do you perform as well as we have today. The talent we have within our squad, it counts for nothing, you have to still go out and show how strong you are and we did today. I didn’t think the wicket changed a great deal, RCB started well, but taking a wicket at the backend of the PP changed things for us. Collectively, we took valuable wickets.
“Maxwell, AB, Virat – we managed to get on top of all of them, it’s very rare as well. As a group, with the expressive nature with which the guys play, playing under me or Baz, should be an absolute treat. We’re not going to knock people for playing their shots. We have a long way to go, need a lot of things to go right. Today’s the right start, need that run of confidence. We haven’t turned up for the majority of the tournament, but today was a great start.”
The RCB’s defeat in the IPL came a day after Kohli announced that he was going to step down from the role of the captain for the team from Bangalore after this season. Kohli had said, “This will be my last IPL as captain of RCB. I’ll continue to be an RCB player till I play my last IPL game. I thank all the RCB fans for believing in me and supporting me.”
Varun Chakravarthy was declared Man Of The Match for his impressive three-wicket haul.