IPL 2018 | Virat Kohli defends RCB bowlers despite poor outing against Rajasthan

After Royal Challengers Bangalore's bowlers failed to defend a target of 176 in the opening game against Kolkata Knight Riders, they were put under the scanner. However, they responded very well as they put up a collective performance to restrict Kings XI Punjab to 155 - a game that RCB won. 

However, in their second home game, everything went downhill. After a promising start, the RCB bowlers conceded a staggering 75 runs in the last 4 overs. 

“When you concede 200, it is always tough. We got 200 as well, but just because we lost, we need to sit down and think how and where things went down. The last game was a really good bowling performance from us. Tonight was just a difficult day for bowlers overall. We got 420 runs, it was a big, big batting day. I don't think the bowlers need to be too harsh on themselves,” Kohli was quoted saying after the game. 

He also backed Chris Woakes who was RCB’s highest buy at the auction (7.4 crore). Even though Woakes has been expensive in all three games, he has picked up 7 wickets. 

“It is not necessary that everytime Chris Woakes walks out to bowl, he is going to get you wickets just because he has been picked up at the auctions for a hefty amount. Today was his off day and so it was for other bowlers,” Kohli said. 

The RCB lower middle-order took the score as close to 200 as possible but they were not able to change the outcome of the game in their favour. Washington Sundar scored 35 in just 19 deliveries while Mandeep Singh made 47 in 25 balls. Also, Pawan Negi was brought in place of Sarfaraz Khan to ease the pressure on the 5 main bowlers. 

“It was an outstanding effort by the lower-order batsmen because it gives confidence to the team if the top-order fails. We pick players not according to their performance in a particular match but to bring in balance in the team. That should be the mindset for every team,” the 29-year-old said. 

Last year the pitch at the Chinnaswamy stadium had taken everyone by surprise and it produced a whole lot of low-scoring games. Hence, it was one of the talking points in the build-up to RCB’s home games. In the first game, there was spin but it was not as slow as last year. For the first day game of the season in Bangalore, the pitch seemed to dry and there was some spin early in Rajasthan Royals’ innings, but it just got better to bat on. Virat Kohli was perplexed by the nature of the pitch and how it played throughout the 40 overs. 

“After looking at the pitch early on, we were surprised by how it played. We thought it was going to be slower than how it played, but the ball came nicely onto the bat - even in the first innings, it kept coming on nicely and even when it got old. That surprised us a little bit. We thought it isn't going to be a 200-plus wicket at any stage,” the RCB skipper added. 

RCB next take on Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on April 17.