Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) qualified for the playoffs for the second time in a row as they became the third team to have a ‘Q’ against their name in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after they nothced up their eighth win of the season beating Punjab Kings by six runs in Sharjah.
Even though the team has qualified skipper Virat Kohli was unsatisfied as he suggested that the side can improve in a few areas and one in particular which he mentioned was that one of the set batters has to take more risks especially when they had 10 wickets down.
Kohli said that team qualifying with games to spare is a big achievement for them and it gave them a real motivation to play more fearlessly to ensure a top-two finish while improving their game in certain areas of the game.
Asked about the areas they need to improve during the post-match presentation, Kohli said, “It wasn’t [an easy surface] but I think when you don’t have any wickets on the scoreboard, you can afford to take a bit more risk, which I think one of the set batters out of myself and Dev [Devdutt Padikkal] have to, so that’s one area that we have recognised straight away and will take responsibility of being one of the two guys that gets momentum at that stage.”
Kohli mentioned that a qualifier and the eliminator will be played here so, 15-20 extra runs on a ground like Sharjah will be crucial if one of the set opening batters starts to attack.
Virat Kohli and co became the first team to get a score of 160-plus in Sharjah in IPL 2021 owing to a good 68-run opening partnership followed by another Glenn Maxwell special which helped them get to 164. The score proved to be enough eventually despite a 91-run opening stand between KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal as the RCB stormed back into the contest once both got out as PBKS’ middle-order failed to get going.
Yuzvendra Chahal played a big part, getting wickets to Nicholas Pooran and Sarfraz Khan as well to put breaks on the scoring as the run rate kept creeping up and the Kings fell short of the score by six runs.
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