New Delhi:
Royal Challengers Bangalore were undone by a special spell of 3/12 from legspinner Shreyas Gopal. In that spell, he got the wickets of Virat Kohli (23), AB de Villiers (13) and Shimron Hetmyer (1) and the side struggled for momentum. After being restricted to 158/4, Rajasthan Royals were boosted by an aggressive fifty from Jos Buttler and despite some wickets from Yuzvendra Chahal (2/17), Ajinkya Rahane's side secured their first win in the 2019 Indian Premier League by winning the match by seven wickets at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur. Speaking after the end of the match, Kohli admitted that the team was 15-20 runs short, especially with the dew settling in the second innings when Rajasthan Royals were batting.
“We were more competitive. but we were 15-20 short with the bat. I thought 160 was competitive, but with the dew factor, 15 runs more would've been more challenging. The team hasn't gone off to a good start, and these things look really bad. But we have to keep believing that we can turn things around. We played well in Mumbai and here, but we need to improve. We need to take some confidence,” Kohli said.
Royal Challengers Bangalore did not help their chances by dropping catches at regular intervals. Towards the end, AB de Villiers missed a run-out of Steve Smith and Umesh Yadav dropped a crucial catch of Steve Smith off the bowling of Yuzvendra Chahal which could have given Kohli's sidem more belief in pushing for the win. The skipper admitted that mistakes like these will not give the team a win.
“t was not easy to get the boundaries in the second innings but if we make that many mistakes (dropped catches), then we will fall on the losing side. In a tournament like IPL, when you have no momentum, then these things can happen,” Kohli admitted.
Kohli and de Villiers were dismissed in the same innings by Gopal for the second time in the IPL and the Karnataka legspinner was modest when described about the achievement. “I am fortunate and lucky to have gotten those big wickets. As a youngster getting such big names out doesn't come everyday. I was just fortunate, and the plans worked. Coming in to bowl in the seventh over, we had built a lot of pressure in the powerplay. I had come in after that, and because the batsmen were trying to score off me, I managed to get the wickets. Pretty comfortable bowling my variations, I rely on my gut feet while deciding what to bowl,” Gopal said.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are currently at the bottom of the table and they will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on April 5 while Rajasthan Royals will take on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sawai Mansingh stadium on April 7.
