Virat Kohli went on to score an undefeated century and lead Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a six-wicket victory in their IPL match in Raipur. Kolkata Knight Riders coach Abhishek Nayar acknowledged that dropping Kohli early in his innings proved costly.
Rovman Powell dropped Kohli off Kartik Tyagi on 21, which proved to be crucial as the master batsman went on to hit an undefeated 105 off 60 to lead RCB to the top of the standings on Wednesday night. Devdutt Padikkal (39) and Kohli formed a strong 92-run partnership for the second wicket while chasing 193.
“When you drop Virat Kohli, especially in a chase, it becomes very difficult,” PTI quoted Nayar as saying at the post-match press conference.
Nayar believed that despite having enough runs scored, KKR lost the game due to a few errors.
“As I said earlier, the score was fine on this pitch. There are a lot of things that could have been better. Virat’s catch was a very tough one. The Angkrish catch, you would expect him to take.”
The coach also thought that KKR suffered since Varun Chakravarthy was unable to play because of a toe ailment.
“At the end of the day, cricket works like that. If we had another 10-15 runs, maybe the game changes. If those catches are taken, maybe the game changes. If Varun Chakravarthy plays, maybe the game changes,” Nayar said.
Nayar acknowledged that the spin tandem of Sunil Narine and Chakravarthy is crucial to KKR.
“It is an open secret that we have done really well with the Sunny-Varun combination. It is unfortunate that we have missed him a lot this season,” Nayar said.
“This is the second time he has had a fracture, which is unfortunate for him. You will always miss a Varun Chakravarthy.”
Despite the loss, Nayar backed his batting team to score a respectable total.
“Midway through the innings, we felt anywhere between 180 and 200 would be a good score. There was no dew as well, so that was not a factor,” he said.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s 71 off 46 balls was commended by Nayar.
“I was very impressed with the way he batted because the ball was really nipping around early on. Hazlewood and Bhuvi are world-class bowlers. At no point did he look uncomfortable. He looked like he belonged there,” Nayar said.
Padikkal, the top-order batsman for RCB, was astounded by Kohli’s game-winning century and claimed to have the finest seat in the house to see the star’s antics.
“It was incredible to watch. I think I had the best seat in the house tonight. Some of the shots he (Kohli) played were simply remarkable, obviously coming into this game after two ducks was never easy and he showed who he is. He just went out and batted the way he does and really happy to see him get those runs,” he said.
“Honestly it doesn’t really change anything, everyone who is here comes out to perform, no one scores ducks and hundreds in every game and that is part of the game and he (Kohli) understands that better than anybody else. He has always bounced back and got runs and he showed why he is one of the best in business today.”
The wicket was favorable for batters, according to Padikkal.
“It was a pretty good wicket, obviously the previous game was a little bit tacky, little bit up and down. It had a little bit for the pacers initially with the new ball, but as soon as the initial swing died down, it was a pretty good wicket to bat on. Anything under 200 these days feels like a chaseable target, that’s how the game has evolved,” he said.
