We didn’t have enough runs on the board, says Kohli

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Abu Dhabi: Despite starting the season on a good note and finishing fourth in the points table, Royal Challengers Bangalore ended their campaign after losing to SunRisers Hyderabad by six-wicket in Eliminator and skipper Virat Kohli admitted that the team failed to put decent runs on the board after being asked to bat first.

SRH needed 18 runs in the last two overs. Mohammed Siraj just gave nine runs in his penultimate over. Navdeep Saini had nine runs to defend in the last over of the match which he failed to as Hyderabad won the game with two balls to spare.

“If you talk about the first innings I don’t think we had enough runs on the board. We made one helluva game in the second half, the positions we got ourselves into in the second half. It is a game of margins and if Kane was taken there then it is a different ball game. Altogether they put us under a lot of pressure in the first innings. Few soft dismissals, few fortunate ones for them as well and we just didn’t have enough runs on the board,” Kohli told host broadcaster Star Sports after the match.

“Maybe a bit of nerves, maybe a bit of hesitation, we need to be more expressive with the bat. We didn’t have any phases in the game where we got away from the opposition. We just allowed bowlers to bowl to the areas they wanted to and didn’t put enough pressure on them. In the last two-three games, we have hit it straight to the fielders, lot of good shots going to the fielders. It has been a strange kind of phase in the last four-five games,” he added.

Chasing a moderate target of 132, SRH had the worst possible start as opener Shreevats Goswami (0) lost his wicket in the first over off Siraj.

Manish Pandey joined David Warner in the middle and added 42-run for the second wicket. The latter departed after playing a knock of 17 runs. Kane Williamson came in to bat at number four. In the ninth over, spinner Adam Zampa bagged Pandey (24) and sent back top-three batsmen of Hyderabad.

Priyam Garg and Williamson then had a brief 12-run stand for the fourth wicket. Garg failed to play a big inning for the side and was dismissed at seven runs by Yuzvendra Chahal.
All-rounder Jason Holder and Williamson then had a solid unbeaten partnership of 65-run to put their side over the line. Meanwhile, Williamson completed his half-century and remained not out on 50 runs.

On the other hand, Holder played a supporting knock of 24* runs off 20 balls. For RCB, Siraj bagged two wickets while Adam Zampa and Yuzvendra Chahal scalped one wicket each.

Earlier, AB de Villiers’ 56 runs guided RCB to 131/7 after Holder and T Natarajan starred with the ball.

Holder picked three wickets while Natarajan scalped two wickets as no batsmen except AB de Villiers got going for RCB.

Put in to bat first, RCB suffered an early jolt as skipper Virat Kohli was dismissed in the very second over by Jason Holder. RCB’s start worsened as Holder dismissed Devdutt Padikkal in the fourth over.

A couple of wickets early in the innings saw Aaron Finch and de Villiers playing a sluggish knock to revamp the game. The Kohli-led side made just 32 runs in the powerplay as SRH looked in full control.

Finch and de Villiers stitched a 41-run stand before Shahbaz Nadeem dismissed the former in the 11th over as RCB got reduced to 56/3.

Moeen Ali, who came in to bat at number five, got run out on the first ball as RCB reeled on 62/4.

De Villiers and Shivam Dube then rebuilt RCB’s innings as the South African cricketer hit timely boundaries without playing risky shots. However, Dube struggled to time the ball and eventually got dismissed by Holder in the 16th over. Meanwhile, De Villiers continued his fine form and smashed his 38 IPL half-century.

However, a perfect yorker from T Natarajan ended De Villiers’ stint at the crease in 18th over. In the end, RCB were only able to score 131 runs in their allotted 20 overs. (ANI)