Royal Challengers Bangalore might be one of the fan-followed teams in the Indian Premier League. However, having not won a single IPL title to date is something it would be working upon in IPL 2021 and looks on a smooth ride to change its fortunes this time.
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However, RCB suffered a setback after losing its second game of the season to Punjab Kings by 34 runs in Match 26 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. While RCB has dropped to third, skipper Virat Kohli feels that leaking extra runs late in the innings was the reason that cost his side the game, indirectly referring to pacer Harshal Patel's final over that went for 22 runs.
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"They got off to a good start, but we pulled things back somewhat after five down. Should have been chasing 160, when they were 1165, but we gave away 25-odd runs in the end. Focused too much on what the batters were doing. We got away from our plans. We gave too many bad balls for boundaries," Kohli reckoned during the post-match presentation.
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Explaining RCB's batting problems during the match, Kohli figured, "As batsmen, we could have tried different things early on. It was tough to hit through the line. It was all about trying to get a partnership and have a strike rate of more than 110. We were not able to do that as a batting unit. Just a few little tweaks we need to address going forward. There are areas we need to improve."
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"The composition of our team is such that we give him (Patidar) the freedom to play at number 3. It's situational. This is a good balance for our batting line up. Rajat is a quality player, just that tonight wasn't his night. One wicket there (at death bowling) and we could have squeezed them. We couldn't execute our plans," he concluded.
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Match summaryElecting to bowl, PBKS produced an intelligent display with the bat, thanks to Rahul's unbeaten 91, supported by Chris Gayle's crafty 41, as RCB was set a target of 180. In reply, PBKS bowled smart, while Brar's cunning spring was just too good for three of the top RCB batsmen. Also, the other batsmen could hardly contribute, as PBKS made the win look mighty easy.Brief scores: PBKS 1795 (Rahul- 91; Gayle- 46; Jamieson- 232) defeats RCB 1458 (Kohli- 35, Patidar- 31, Harshal- 31, Brar- 319) by 34 runs.NOTE: Asianet News humbly requests everyone to wear masks, sanitise, maintain social distancing and get vaccinated as soon as eligible. Together we can and will break the chain #ANCares #IndiaFightsCorona
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