Virat Kohli critical of RCB’s batting and Chennai pitch: The Royal Challengers Bangalore captain admitted that their batting wasn’t good vs CSK.
The only point of relief for Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli after getting bundled out for 70 in the season opener against Chennai Super Kings was that “such a game is out of the way”.
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Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, Kohli said that the team had talked about staying in the game till the end. “No one wants to start like this, but it’s good to get a game like this out of the way – this early in the tournament. We spoke of trying to be in the game, taking it to the 18th over was nice to see,” Kohli was quoted as saying.
“The batting wasn’t good”
A season opener comprising of CSK and RCB had called for plentiful expectations only to be let down. It was the wicket at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium which played spoilsport as a total of 141 runs were scored in nearly 35 overs. While Kohli admitted that his batsmen were below par, he also put the blame on the pitch.
“The batting wasn’t good, it wasn’t easy to bat on, looked much better surface though, I thought 140-150 would have been an ideal score, especially with dew expected later on,” he said.
“A scrappy start to the league, but I don’t think either team had control over it, the pitch was under the covers for 4 days, but we should have batted better, 110-120 would have been a fighting score,” he further said about the pitch.
Opening the bowling for RCB alongside Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini impressed one and all with his pace. While he bowled four wicket-less overs for 24 runs, he put on display signs of sharing the new ball for RCB throughout the tournament. Before concluding, Kohli also addressed Saini’s progress at the domestic level.
“He [Saini] has been good in conditions where there’s some grass, got his chance now. I thought CSK played really well, they deserved to win, but I loved to see our team fighting all the way,” Kohli concluded.
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