"We handed over the game...deserved to lose": Virat Kohli on RCB's loss to KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders got a much-needed win, after four losses in a row, as they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the ongoing IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

A blistering 56(29) from Jason Roy and an attacking 48 off 21 from captain Nitish Rana powered KKR to 200/5. Varun Chakaravarthy (3-27) and Suyash Sharma (2-30) then spun a web around the RCB batters as KKR restricted RCB to 179/8 and won by 21 runs.

"To be honest, we handed over the game to them. 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," Kohli said in a post-match presentation on Wednesday.

The KKR captain Nitish Rana received two life in the 13th and 15th overs and went on to smash 48 off just 21 balls. When he was on 5, Mohammed Siraj dropped Rana at long-off off Vijaykumar Vyshak for the first of those opportunities. Rana flicked to fine leg off Siraj's bowling one over later, but Harshal Patel couldn't hold on. Rana was on 19 off 12 at the time.

"[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," he added.

Their batters continued to lose wickets to loose deliveries, which cost them the game, according to Kohli, who added that they were just one partnership away from grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck.

"Even while chasing, despite losing wickets we were one partnership away from being in the game. We needed one partnership to get us home. We need to be switched on and not give away soft plays. We have won one and lost one on the road. It is not something that is making us nervous. We need to win some away games to be in good shape for the later stages of the tournament," Kohli said.

Coming to the match, chasing 201, RCB got off to a breezy start as openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis went on the attack straight away. Kohli slashed one to third man for a four off the first ball of the innings, from Vaibhav Arora and then du Plessis flicked one wide of a short fine leg. The duo then went after Umesh Yadav, hammering 19 off the over as Kohli smacked one over extra cover for a four and then du Plessis ended the over with two sixes.

Nitish Rana brought on Suyash Sharma into the attack as early as the third over and the young spinner answered his captain's call with the big wicket of du Plessis (17 off 7), caught at long-on and giving away just three off the over.

Kohli kept the momentum going with a couple of fours off Suyash but the youngster bounced back in the over, trapping Shahbaz Ahmed LBW to make it 51/2. Chakaravarthy then struck a big blow by having the in-form Glenn Maxwell caught at mid-off after the RCB batter had hit him for a four off the earlier ball. This was the first time this season RCB had lost three wickets in the Powerplay as they reached 58/3 at the end of the first six overs.

After a relatively quiet three overs, Mahipal Lomror upped the scoring, hammering a couple of sixes off Sunil Narine to take the score to 96/3 at the halfway mark.

Kohli then reached his fifty off 33 balls. Lomror (34 off 18) hit one more six off Chakaravarthy but the wily spinner bounced back to have him caught at deep square leg off the next ball. RCB lost another one in the next over, and the big one of Kohli (54 off 37) as he was brilliantly caught at deep mid-wicket by Venkatesh Iyer, off Russell. Kohli pulled it powerfully to deep mid-wicket where Iyer moved to his left and pouched a good low diving catch.

Dinesh Karthik and Suyash Prabhudessai added brisk 22 runs off 16 balls but a mix-up between the two saw Prabhudessai depart in the 15th over as Suyash Sharma finished an impressive spell of 4-0-30-2, giving away just six in his last over.

With 56 needed off 24 balls, Andre Russell bowled a good over, giving away just eight runs and picking up the wicket of Hasaranga. Chakaravarthy then provided a crucial breakthrough as he had Karthik (22 off18) caught at deep mid-wicket. He bowled a fantastic over, conceding just four and finishing with 4-0-27-3.

With 44 needed off 12, it was always going to be an uphill task and the home team managed just 22 as KKR won the match by 21 runs. (ANI)