Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were handed a third straight defeat in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday as the hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) hammered the visitors by 118 runs.
For SRH, Englishman Jonny Bairstow struck 114 from just 56 deliveries while Australia’s David Warner carried his bat for a 55-ball 100 in a record 185-run first-wicket partnership to post a mammoth 231 for two, a total which the visitors defended without any fuss.
The better celebration to a 💯?
#SRHvRCB #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/tV2q9YQtzm— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 31, 2019
“One of our worst losses ever. Literally, nothing I can explain. Nothing went right for us from ball one until our last wicket fell in the second innings. We were outplayed in all departments by a quality side. They showed that they are a champion side – they were finalists last time and beat us in the final (in 2016),” a dejected Kohli said to the broadcasters after the match.
Kohli feels that the current batting line-up with himself at No.3 and AB de Villiers at No.4 suits his team the best and sounded confident they could turn things around over the next 11 league matches.
“We still have 11 games, and things can turn around quite quickly in this league. We have to capitalize on that in the next games. When things don’t go our way, we will have to find ways of winning moments. You need to start well, and the next game should be that game for us,” the RCB skipper added.
Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the stand-in captain of SRH, lauded his bowling unit, especially the performance of Afghan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, who picked up 4/11 in his first outing this season.
“It shows how good a spinner he is (Nabi). He was spot on from the first ball. It was a good batting track in the second innings but our bowling was brilliant,” Bhuvi said.
