‘Deserved to lose, not professional enough’: Furious Virat Kohli goes ballistic at RCB teammates after loss to KKR

Batting icon Virat Kohli was extremely critical of his players in the aftermath of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) demoralising defeat to former champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the recently concluded encounter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Wednesday.

A misfiring KKR side led by stand-in skipper Nitish Rana outplayed Kohli’s RCB side in match No.36 of the IPL 2023 at the famous M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Issuing an explosive statement after RCB suffered their fourth defeat of the new season at home, a dejected Kohli openly admitted that Royal Challengers Bangalore handed the game to the visitors. Kohli, who captained RCB for the third time in a row this season, blamed Bangalore’s sloppy fielding and soft dismissals for their recent defeat to the two-time champions in the 16th season of the cash-rich league.

“To be honest we handed over the game to them. We deserved to lose. We weren’t professional enough. We bowled well but fielding was not up to standard. This was a freebie handed over to them. In the field, we dropped two chances, that cost us 25-30 runs. When batting, we set us ourselves up very well, but then (suffered) four-five soft dismissals,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation.

Kohli played a fighting knock of 54 off 37 balls to keep RCB in the hunt during the high-scoring contest between Bangalore and Kolkata at high-scoring Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, Kohli’s batting heroics went in vain as RCB only managed to muster 179-8 while chasing the gigantic total of 200 in 20 overs. Faf du Plessis’ RCB side is placed fifth on the IPL 2023 points table after their 21-run defeat at the hands of Kolkata.

“Not wicket-taking balls, but we hit straight to the fielders. Even while chasing, after losing wickets, one partnership brought us back in the game. We were one partnership short. We need to stay 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,” the stand-in RCB skipper added. Kohli-starrer Royal Challengers Bangalore will next meet KL Rahul’s Lucknow Super Giants in the 43rd match of the IPL 2023 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Monday.