For Virat Kohli, there seems to be nothing he can do to lead his side - Royal Challengers Bangalore - to a win this season. The batsman Kohli stepped up, delivered with the bat, took his side past 200, but the captain Kohli could not rally his team around as they were smoked away by an Andre Russell blitzkrieg at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Kohli held his cap in his hand, looking everywhere for answers, and yet finding none. When the match ended, he was jaded, he was angry and he wanted answers. KKR smacked 66 runs off the last 24 balls to snatch another heist, a sensational five-wicket win from RCB.
"There is no guessing there (about where we lost the game), the last 4 four overs that we bowled was just unacceptable. We needed to be more clever, nothing came off and we just cracked under pressure. That's been our story this season so far," an irate Kohli said after the match.
Kohli wants more bravery
He wanted his side, especially the bowlers to be braver when the pressure is amped, but, unfortunately, nothing is working. "If you bowl with not enough bravery in the crucial overs, it's always going to be difficult against power-hitters like Russell," Kohli said.
Never the one to take credit for his innings, if it does not help his side crack the contest, the skipper said that he wanted to play for the entire innings and was not entirely pleased when he got out.
"I wasn't really happy getting out at that moment, could've got 20-25 more. AB didn't get much strike in the end. I thought the runs were enough on the board, we didn't have enough composure," he said.
Also, taking aim at his bowlers, the skipper said that if any bowling attack could not defend 75 runs in the last four overs, they cannot even be backed to defend 100. He now wants to give his players some space so that they have the belief to bounce back in the next match.
"We can have a bit of chat about what went wrong, apart from that nothing much you can say. I don't think talking enough helps all the time. You need to give the guys some space and come back stronger in the next game. It's been a disappointing season so far, but we are still optimistic about our chances," Kohli said.
