IPL 2019: Virat Kohli lashes out at bowlers for the poor show against KKR

The campaign for Royal Challengers Bangalore just went from bad to worse as they have lost all their 5 games. In the last game against Kolkata Knight Riders, the batsmen stepped up and piled on 205 runs. But the bowlers failed to defend that as Andre Russell went berserk at the death. The captain Virat Kohli wasn’t pleased with the efforts of the bowlers in the end.

The game was in RCB’s grasp when 53 runs were required for KKR from 3 overs. Russell had just come to the crease and could score just 1 off 4 balls. But Mohammed Siraj bowled a beamer that disappeared for a six. It was the pacer’s second ball over the waist and as a result, he had to be taken off from the attack.

Russell took full toll of the situation and ended up scoring 48 from just 13 balls. His knock included 7 sixes and a four. Due to his power striking, KKR got home with 5 balls in hand. Kohli mentioned it was unacceptable the way the bowlers bowled to Russell.

“There is no guessing there, the last 4 four overs that we bowled was just unacceptable. We needed to be more clever, nothing came off and we just cracked under pressure. That’s been our story this season so far. If you bowl with not enough bravery in the crucial overs, it’s always going to be difficult against power-hitters like Russell,” said Kohli after the match.

We didn’t have enough composure: Virat Kohli

After a string of low scores, the skipper came good with the bat. He scored 84 runs from 49 balls and along with AB de Villiers, he added 108 runs for the 2nd wicket. AB also made a good contribution of 63 from 32 balls. When Kohli got out in the 18th over, RCB was at 172/2. But he felt that the score could have been much more had he stayed until the end. This is how Virat Kohli lashes out at bowlers for the poor show.

“I wasn’t really happy getting out at that moment, could’ve got 20-25 more. AB didn’t get much strike in the end. I thought the runs were enough on the board, we didn’t have enough composure. If you can’t defend 75 in the last four overs, then I don’t know if you can defend 100. We can have a bit of chat about what went wrong, apart from that nothing much you can say. I don’t think talking enough helps all the time.

“You need to give the guys some space and come back stronger in the next game. 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,” added Kohli.

Also Read: Who will win the ODI World Cup 2019? Here are the top 5 contenders

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