Abu Dhabi: A day after announcing his decision to step down as Royal Challengers Bangalore captain at the end of IPL 2021, Virat Kohli said they were given a wake up call in a nine-wicket drubbing by Kolkata Knight Riders here on Monday.
"Bit of a collapse there for us, bit of a wake-up call and might as well have this at the start of the second leg so that we know exactly what we need to work on," the losing captain said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The match saw RCB, after winning the toss, getting bundled out for a paltry 92 on the day with Andre Russell (3/9) and Varun Chakravarthy (3/13) doing the damage for KKR. Russell triggered a top-order collapse with two wickets right after the powerplay, including the big scalp of AB de Villiers for a golden duck.
Kohli, who scored just 5 runs on the day before getting trapped lbw by Prasidh Krishna, felt the flurry of wickets in the first 10 overs took them away from the match.
"It was important to get a good partnership on this surface. We didn't expect that much dew to kick in so early, we couldn't have predicted that. We were 42-odd for one and then lost about five wickets within 20 runs from there, which is a very difficult situation to come back from, " Kohli said.
He further added that unlike in the last innings, when the ball came slow to the bat, dew came in early in the second innings.
KKR batsman Shubman Gill confirmed the same after the match as he scored a quick 34-ball 48 in team's run chase in 10 overs. The KKR opener further added the win was a bold statement by the Kolkata outfit as they went out to get the maximum of the match with net run rate in mind.
"It was a bold statement. It was a plan to get the net run-rate going. It felt good, except the way I got out, but I'll get to my fifty next match," Shubman said. (UNI)
