We handed them the game…did deserve to lose: Virat Kohli critical of RCB giving away ‘soft plays’ in loss vs KKR

The Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers failed to nab a wicket in the powerplay for the first time this season and conceded 112 runs in the final 10 overs as Kolkata Knight Riders went on to win 21 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday.
Stand-in skipper Virat Kohli, who was the top scorer for the hosts, lambasted his side’s display in their eighth game of the season.
“To be honest we handed them the game,” said Kohli in the post-match chat. “We did deserve to lose. We handed them a victory. We were certainly not up to standard. If you look at the game, we didn’t capitalize our chances. We dropped a few chances which cost us 25-30 runs. We set up ourselves really well. We ended up hitting the balls to the fielders which weren’t wicket taking.”
While Kohli scored a 37-ball-54, the rest of the top order was unable to join in as KKR nabbed three wickets in the powerplay, sending back Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell to topple the home side’s chances of chasing down 200.
“It is what’s on the scoreboard and how to get them. Even while chasing, despite losing wickets we were one partnership away from being in the game. We needed one partnership to get us home. We need to be switched on and not give away soft plays,” Kohli said.

In eight games, RCB have won four and lost as many. “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,” Kohli added.
The RCB captain would be dismissed Andre Russell, caught at the deep mid wicket boundary Venkatesh Iyer in the 13th over.
“We really needed that victory. Have been under the pump last couple of games. Batting first tonight, we know once we get a good total on the board – runs on the board is pressure,” Russell said afterwards.