IPL 2021: Did Virat Kohli's decision to step down affect RCB's performance vs KKR?

Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered a heavy loss to Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday in IPL 2021. Meanwhile, was it Virat Kohli's decision to step down from captaincy that affected its performance?

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is one of the big teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but has failed to win the title to date. Skipper Virat Kohli has been a part of the side since 2008, while he has been leading it since 2013.

Meanwhile, on Monday, RCB suffered a heavy nine-wicket loss to former champion Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 31 of IPL 2021 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. As a result, some wonder if Kohli's decision to step down from the role demoralised the side and affected its performance against KKR?

However, RCB head coach Mike Hesson clarified during the post-match press conference that Kohli's decision has nothing to do with the side's performance besides asserting that it was essential to making the announcement early. Instead, he blamed the batting collapse, citing that the batsmen failed to adapt to the conditions and did not gel as a unit, but affirmed that the side would bounce back soon, reports PTI.

Kohli's decision to step down from the captaincy arrived a couple of days after he had decided to relinquish Team India's Twenty20 International leadership duties following the conclusion of the 2021 ICC World T20 in the gulf itself in November. His decision came after days of media's speculations that some of the top brass of the Board of Control for Cricket in India was unhappy regarding his decision-making skills.

Match summary
Winning the toss, Kohli elected to bat first. But, the decision turned out to be nightmarish, as spinner Varun Chakravarthy and Russell wreaked havoc, claiming three wickets each while restricting RCB to 92. In reply, it was an easy ride for KKR, with the openers getting the job done.
Brief scores: RCB 92 in 19 overs (Padikkal- 22; Russell- 3/9, Chakravarthy- 3/16) vs KKR 94/1 in 10 overs (Gill- 48, Venkatesh- 41; Chahal- 1/23) by nine wickets.

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