IPL 2021 | Reality check has come at the right time for us in the tournament, states Virat Kohli

04/25/2021

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Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli asserted that it’s important for his side to take positives out of the CSK drubbing and insisted that the defeat has come at the right time for his side. RCB lost to CSK by 69 runs and Kohli admitted that his team were beaten by one man, Ravi Jadeja.

The most anticipated game of IPL 2021 turned out to be a bummer as Chennai Super Kings thrashed a listless RCB side to end the Reds’ unbeaten streak in IPL 2021. Winning the toss and batting first, CSK posted 191, courtesy fifties from Jadeja and du Plessis, but were completely dismantled in the chase by a clinical Super Kings, who restricted the Reds to a mere 122 to register a 69-run victory.

RCB, on Sunday, were outplayed on all three fronts, but skipper Virat Kohli stated that there is no reason to panic. Kohli insisted that the reality check has come at the right time for RCB and claimed that it is imperative that his side would take positives and learns lessons from the thrashing at the Wankhede.

“You have to look at it the right way. It's come at the right time for us. You have to understand the things that went wrong,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.

“I think this is positive feedback for our side. It's good to get a performance like this out of the way early in the season. We were there most of the moments in the game, but the key ones we lost badly.”

The scorecard will read that RCB were beaten by CSK, but many will argue that the Reds were, in fact, downed by Ravindra Jadeja alone. In what was one of the greatest all-round performances in T20 history, Jadeja scored 62*(28) with the bat, took 3/13 with the ball and inflicted a direct hit to flay RCB on his own. Kohli admitted that his side were essentially beaten by Jadeja, who he said took the game away from the Reds.

“Jaddu displaying his skills took the game away from us. You can probably say one guy beat us.”

RCB, in the first four games, were carried by the bowling of Harshal Patel, but things went awry for the Haryana seamer, who conceded 37 runs in a single over to equal the unwanted record for the most runs conceded in a single IPL over. But despite the off day, Kohli asserted that the management will continue to give responsibility to the right-arm seamer. Kohli also further said that the team will continue to experiment with pinch-hitters at the No.3 slot.

“We will continue to give him responsibility he got both the set batsmen out and plucked all the momentum away. We have to look at this in the right way. Brush it aside and learn from it. We will continue to use guys at 3 because we have Maxi and AB to follow. We will continue to use that depth. We'll throw in guys there and ask them to change the game for us.”

RCB will now shift base to Ahmedabad, where they will play their next four games, starting with the encounter versus Delhi on April 27.