Worst batting show; it really hurts, says Kohli

Usually feared for their array of power-hitters, Royal Challengers Bangalore were laid low by Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2017 on Saturday after being routed for 49 all out at the Eden Gardens.

“After the kind of half that we had, we thought we could capitalise and chase it down. Reckless batting. I can’t say anything at the moment,” said a furious Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper, Virat Kohli. “It was that bad. This is just not acceptable.”

“Our worst batting performance, it really hurts.”

RCB, the finalists of IPL 2016 had restricted Gautam Gambhir’s KKR to 131 all out in 19.3 overs, after the Bangalore side had elected to bowl first.

Out of seven matches, RCB have now won two and lost five. They are at the bottom of the points table.

However, in a horror show that followed, RCB did not even last till the halfway mark, bowled out in 9.4 overs. It was worse than the lowest total in IPL --- 58 all out of Rajasthan Royals against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Cape Town, 2009.

The RCB collapse began with Kohli’s dismissal by KKR pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile for a duck in the third ball of the innings.

“The sightscreen is very small here, one guy got up as the bowler was loading up, that distracted me. Still it wasn’t a big deal. That was just one down. Nine guys could do the job,” Kohli bemoaned.