On Saturday, Sunrisers Hyderabad thrashed RCB by nine wickets after bundled out a star-studded batting line-up for just 68 runs.
Virat Kohli “He is doing everything that is in his control” but there comes a phase in a player’s life when even the first lead is being taken by the fielders, RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar has defended the former India captain. Said after the second straight duck.
On Saturday, Sunrisers Hyderabad thrashed RCB by nine wickets after bundled out a star-studded batting line-up for just 68 runs.
Kohli, who has not scored a century in any format for more than three years now, has been dismissed for first-ball ducks in successive games with a familiar pattern of getting out outside the off-stump.
“He (Kohli) is someone who has consistently performed for RCB. Players go through bad patches. He started the season really well, scored almost winning runs in Pune, but then you have a strange run-out Or is the first edge he finds. “The fielder has the ground in his hands,” said Bangar, long-time India’s batting coach.
Bangar brushes aside the issue of Kohli needing a long break as former national team head coach Ravi Shastri feels he is “over-cooked”.
“He is definitely doing everything that is under his control. He is doing his fitness and skill and taking good breaks and not letting the pressure get to him. He is taking breaks at regular intervals And will continue to do so.”
Bangar defended Kohli by saying that he understands that people have their own opinion as he has been such an important player for India for so long.
“If you look at the South Africa series, the 80 he scored in a Test match was a good innings,” Bangar said.
RCB captain Faf du Plessis He feels that his team lost four wickets for 20 runs in the first four overs.
“The first four overs, we shouldn’t have lost that many wickets, it was a bit spicy. We still found a way to set the foundation (in the upcoming games), even if it was sacrificing a few runs. Powerplay,” Du Plessis said after the match.
“We just had to go through that phase where the ball was swinging and seaming, once you get past it, it gets easier. This wicket looked the best, the expectations were high, it was great The wicket was there. No excuse though,” du Plessis said.
Du Plessis heaped praise on South African pacer Marco Jensen and took three wickets in an over.
“Jenson bowled well in his first over, swinging the ball both ways and got big wickets. You want to make sure you don’t get too emotional.”
“It was a bad day at the office, but you need to keep your chin up and learn from it. As a team, we need to move on, it’s a long tournament,” he said.