In match no. 36 of IPL 2023, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) set a target of 201 runs for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to chase at 10.05 runs per over, which appeared too much for the home team as they lost by 21 runs.
Skipper Nitish Rana struck a 21-ball 48 after being dropped twice to play a key role in KKR scoring 200/5 after being put in to bat first. In reply, RCB managed just 179 for the loss of 8 wickets.
The stand-in RCB captain Virat Kohli vent his frustration after the match, saying “we deserved to lose.”
Kohli (54 off 37) led the run chase before being caught at the deep midwicket boundary. After his dismissal none of the RCB players to stick to the wicket and could add just 64 runs in the remaining overs.
“To be honest, we handed over the game to them,” Kohli was quoted as saying to the host broadcaster. “We deserved to lose because we weren’t professional enough in the field. The bowlers hit decent areas, but we didn’t hold on to our chances. That’s what you call a freebie in T20 cricket and we literally handed them a victory, which for me is not ideal because we take pride in the way we play and tonight we weren’t up to standard and something we are not shy to admit.
“[There were] a few instances where we didn’t capitalise during crunch moments. In the field, there was a period of four-five overs where we dropped the chances and that costs us about 25-30 runs in the end.”
RCB have now lost twice to KKR this season and are currently in fifth place on the points-table, trailing Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT) by two points. However, they will have to play five away games before returning to the M Chinnaswamy Stadium for their final league match.
