IPL 2020 | Hold myself responsible for RCB’s loss, states Virat Kohli
Kohli dropped Rahul twice on Thursday
|@ IPL T20
Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli admitted that his drop chances let Punjab get to a mammoth score and stated that he holds himself responsible for his side’s loss on Thursday. Kohli dropped Rahul twice, and the reprives enabled the KXIP skipper to score a startling 132*.
Bad days at the office for a player of Virat Kohli’s calibre are few and far between, but Thursday was one of those days. After winning the toss and opting to bowl first, Kohli saw Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul smash his bowlers to smithereens, but the skipper gave two unforgivable reprieves towards the back end of Punjab’s innings when the 28-year-old was looking to tee off. The first of those drops came when Rahul was on 83 and the second when he was on 89, and the KXIP skipper ensured to make the most out of the lives he got as he bludgeoned to his way to a monstrous 132*.
Speaking post match, Kohli admitted that he holds himself responsible for his side’s appalling 97-run loss on Thursday.
“I have to stand in front and take the brunt of it. Cost about 30-40 runs. If we'd restricted them at 180 we wouldn't have felt pressure to go from ball one. There are days when you have these kind of things happen. Just have to accept them. We've had a good game, we've had a bad game. Time to move on. We need to learn to plug those little mistakes. We did pretty well, especially closing in on the second time out and just after that. But as I said, should have led from the front with those two chances,” Kohli said post match.
It was not only Kohli’s fielding that was off, as the 31-year-old’s tactical moves also did not come off against KXIP. The RCB skipper promoted young Josh Philippe to No.3, but the move backfired as the Australian ended up scoring a three-ball duck. Kohli explained that the reason for Philippe’s promotion was him predominantly being a top-order batsman for his domestic sides back home.Â
“[Philippe at 3] He's batted at the top of the order for WA and done well at the big bash as well. Early days, we tried to see if we can maximise his ability. We just thought chasing a big total, we'll give ourselves a bit of depth in the middle overs. Just didn't come off. One of the things you try and couldn't execute,” Kohli said of Philippe’s promotion.
