"Virat Kohli is desperate to do well" - RCB coach Mike Hesson
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) head coach Mike Hesson has reckoned that skipper Virat Kohli is desperate to do well. Hesson also believes Kohli may well have regained his rhythm during an extended net session ahead of RCB's upcoming fixture against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday (September 26).
In a video uploaded by the Challengers to their official YouTube account, Kohli can be seen sweating it out during an extended practice session.
Speaking about the RCB skipper's prolonged net session, Hesson said:
"We did that a couple of times [on Virat’s extended net session], some of our batsmen look to do that when they get extra opportunities."
"Virat’s desperate to do well and he likes those one-on-one sessions to keep confidence or basically find his rhythm again and he says, it looks like he found it," he added.
Kohli will be desperate to make a mark in the forthcoming fixture against the defending champions after scoring just five runs in the previous game.
Kohli and RCB will be looking to bounce back after a mauling by KKR
Apart from Virat Kohli, the entire RCB side will also be looking to shrug off their forgettable start to their UAE leg of IPL 2021. The 2016 runners-up suffered a humbling defeat by nine wickets with ten overs to spare at the hands of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) earlier this week.
Batting first, the Royal Challengers never looked in their element as they kept losing their wickets at regular intervals. RCB were eventually knocked over for a paltry 92 runs in 19 overs. The batting effort left the bowling department with hardly anything to defend as the Knight Riders made a mockery of the target to romp home by nine wickets.
The Royal Challengers have now suffered three defeats in their last four outings and each of them has been by a significant margin.
While their sole win against the Delhi Capitals was by just a one-run margin, their three defeats have been by a margin of 69 runs (vs CSK), 34 runs (vs PBKS) and now nine wickets.
The Kohli-led unit is still placed comfortably in third spot with ten points, but their net run-rate of -0.706 is the worst among all eight sides. RCB will now have to ensure that even if they don't win a match, they don't end up losing it by a significant margin.
Their next game is against the Mumbai Indians, an opponent who they beat by two wickets earlier in the season. The Bangalore-based franchise will be hoping for an encore on Sunday.